Systems and methods to provide advertisements for real time communications

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods to provide advertisements based on the content of documents in which the advertisements are presented. One embodiment includes: a web server to receive a request for an advertisement in reference to a document provided to a user by a content provider; a backend server to identify the advertisement based on relevancy of the advertisement to the content of the document and to associate a communication reference with the advertisement and the content provider, the web server to provide the advertisement and the reference for inclusion in the document; and a telecommunication server coupled to a session border controller and the backend server to receive a connection request via the reference, to determine contact information of the advertiser and identify the content provider based on the reference, and to establish the connection between the user and the advertiser using the determined contact information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the priority from Provisional U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/915,913, filed May 3, 2007 and entitled “Systemsand Methods to Provide Advertisements for Real Time Communications,” thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The present patent application is related to: U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/565,546, filed Nov. 30, 2006 and claimed priority fromProvisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/862,710 filed Oct. 24,2006; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/505,225, filed Aug. 15, 2006;U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/559,860, filed Nov. 14, 2006; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/077,655, filed Mar. 10, 2005 and claimedpriority from Provisional U.S. Patent Application 60/653,708 filed onFeb. 16, 2005, Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/568,156filed on May 4, 2004, Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.60/560,926 filed on Apr. 9, 2004 and Provisional U.S. Patent ApplicationSer. No. 60/552,124 filed on Mar. 10, 2004; U.S. Patent Application Ser.No. 11/092,309, filed Mar. 28, 2005 and claimed priority fromProvisional U.S. Patent Application 60/653,660 filed on Feb. 16, 2005;and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/095,853, filed Mar. 30, 2005 andclaimed priority from Provisional U.S. Patent Application 60/653,661filed on Feb. 16, 2005. The parent patent application Ser. No.11/092,309 is a continuation in part application of: U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/014,073, filed Dec. 15, 2004; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/872,117, filed Jun. 17, 2004; and, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/021,939, filed Dec. 23, 2004, which is acontinuation in part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/679,982, filed Oct. 6, 2003. The disclosures of the aboveapplications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNOLOGY FIELD

At least some embodiments relate to telephonic connections andadvertising in general and performance-based advertising in particular.

BACKGROUND

Telephone systems allow users to conduct real time two-way voicecommunication. Traditional land-line based telephone systems connect onetelephone set to another through one or more switching centers, operatedby one or more telephone companies, over a land-line based telephonenetwork. Traditionally, a telephone connection is based on a circuitswitched network.

Current telephone systems may also use a packet switched network for atelephone connection. A packet switched network is typical in a computerdata environment. Recent developments in the field of Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) allow the delivery of voice information usingthe Internet Protocol (IP), in which voice information is packaged in adigital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditionalcircuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network(PSTN).

Cellular networks allow a cellular phone to connect to a nearby cellularbase station through an air interface for wireless access to a telephonenetwork. Recent developments in wireless telephone systems allow notonly voice communications but also data communications. For example,cellular phones can now receive and send short messages through a ShortMessage Service (SMS). Web pages can now be retrieved through wirelesscellular links and displayed on cellular phones. Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP) has been developed to overcome the constraints ofrelatively slow and intermittent nature of wireless links to accessinformation similar or identical to World Wide Web.

Telephone companies provide a number of convenient features, such ascall forwarding. Call forwarding of a telephone system allows a user ofa phone at a given phone number to dial a specific sequence on the phoneto cause the telephone system to forward incoming calls addressed to thephone number to another specified phone number indicated by the dialedsequence.

Telephone systems are frequently used in conducting business. Telephonenumbers are typically provided in advertisements, web sites,directories, etc., as a type of contact information to reach businesses,experts, persons, etc.

The Internet is becoming an advertisement media to reach globallypopulated web users. Advertisements can be included in a web page thatis frequently visited by web users. Typically, the advertisementsincluded in the web pages contain only a limited amount of information(e.g., a small paragraph, an icon, etc.). The advertisements containlinks to the web sites that provide further detailed information. Incertain arrangements, the advertisers pay the advertisements based onthe number of visits directed to their web sites by the links of theadvertisements.

Performance based advertising generally refers to a type of advertisingin which an advertiser pays only for a measurable event that is a directresult of an advertisement being viewed by a consumer. For example, inone form of performance-based search advertising, an advertisement isincluded within a result page of a keyword search. Each selection(“click”) of the advertisement from the results page is the measurableevent for which the advertiser pays. In other words, payment by theadvertiser is on a per click basis in such advertising.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows how clients and advertisers interact with each other usinga paid placement, or a paid inclusion advertising model, in accordancewith the prior art.

FIG. 2 shows an interaction between clients and advertisers, inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of operations performed in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 4 shows a high level functional description of a system inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates the Account Creation and Management module of thesystem, in greater detail.

FIG. 6 illustrates the Advertisement Publication Module of the system,in greater detail.

FIG. 7 illustrates the Call Handling Module of the system, in greaterdetail.

FIG. 8A shows an example of a user interface that may be presented to auser during advertisement creation, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 8B shows a campaign management interface that is presented to auser, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a search engine result page, which includesan advertisement generated, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 10 shows an example of an email alert that is sent to anadvertiser, when a call is generated, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 11 shows a high level hardware block diagram of a system that maybe used to implement the system, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIGS. 12-19 describe processes in accordance with some embodiments totrack/credit demand partners.

FIG. 20 presents a flow diagram describing the process of determining ademand partner to be credited with serving an advertisement thatproduced a phone call.

FIG. 21 presents a flow diagram describing the processes of allocating atelephone number for an advertiser/advertisement to multiple demandpartners.

FIG. 22 presents a flow diagram describing one embodiment of recyclingtelephone numbers.

FIG. 23 provides a flow diagram describing additional processes forallocating telephone numbers in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 24 presents a flow diagram describing the processes of maintainingthe separate pools of unique telephone numbers in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 25 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment.

FIGS. 26-30 illustrate examples of telephone call tracking mechanismswhich can be selected according to embodiments.

FIG. 31 shows a diagram illustrating a method to select a type oftracking mechanism with a corresponding reference for embedding in anadvertisement according to one embodiment.

FIG. 32 shows a flow diagram of a method to provide an advertisementaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 33 illustrates an example of displaying advertisement listings in abanner according to one embodiment.

FIG. 34 shows a method to present advertisements according to oneembodiment.

FIGS. 35-38 shows further examples of displaying advertisement listingsaccording to embodiments.

FIG. 39 shows a seller network according to one embodiment.

FIG. 40 illustrate a way to generate a revenue indicator according toone embodiment.

FIG. 41 shows a system including a connection server configured on apacket switched network according to one embodiment.

FIG. 42 shows a connection server according to one embodiment.

FIG. 43 illustrates a system to add advertisements with communicationreferences to content hosted on a server for connecting a customer toadvertisers relevant to the content according to one embodiment.

FIG. 44 illustrates an example of a document with added communicationreferences for connecting a customer to people relevant to the contentof the document according to one embodiment.

FIG. 45 illustrates a method to add communication references via acontent management system to allow a user to request a connection topeople relevant to the content for real time communications according toone embodiment.

FIG. 46 illustrates another method to add communication references toallow a user to request a connection to people relevant to the contentfor real time communications according to one embodiment.

FIG. 47 illustrates a further method to add communication references toallow a user to request a connection to people relevant to the contentfor real time communications according to one embodiment.

FIG. 48 illustrates a method to provide advertisements to facilitatereal time communications between people according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the description. It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art that the techniques can be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the description.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutuallyexclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are describedwhich may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly,various requirements are described which may be requirements for someembodiments but not other embodiments.

FIG. 1 of the drawings illustrates how clients and advertisers interactwith each other in accordance with the paid placement, and paidinclusion advertising models of the prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, anumber of clients indicated by reference numeral 10 are coupled to awide area network (WAN) 14, such as the Internet via a communicationspath 12. Advertisers 16 are coupled to the WAN 14 via a communicationspath 18. The communications paths 12 and 18 may support the TCP/IPprotocols, in one embodiment. Each advertiser 16 has a web page 20 whichin accordance with the paid placement, and paid inclusion advertisingmodels described above, may be included in a results page of a key wordsearch initiated by a user of a client 10, which search is performed byan online search engine 19. Based on the paid placement, or the paidinclusion models, the web page 20 of an advertiser 16 is included withina results page compiled by the search engine 19 and sent via thecommunications path 12 to the client 10 that initiated the search, sothat the web page 20 may be selected or viewed by a user of the client10 that requested the search. As noted above, if an advertiser 16 doesnot have a web page 20, or does not have a web page 20 that is effectiveat capturing the value of a web visitor, then currently, such anadvertiser may not participate, or effectively participate, inperformance-based marketing such as paid placement, and paid inclusionprograms.

Further, the techniques disclosed herein are not limited to publishingor providing advertisements for the advertisers 16 through web pages.Thus, in alternative embodiments, the unique telephone number assignedto an advertiser may be published or provided using a directory withoutthe creation of a web page for the advertiser. The directory may be anexisting directory or a new directory. The placement or ranking of thetelephone number within the directory may be controlled through rankingtechniques described below.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, a method for allowingadvertisers to participate in a pay per call advertising program,without requiring that the advertisers have a web presence, inaccordance with one embodiment, is illustrated. As will be seen, theclients 10 are coupled to the WAN 14 via the communications path 12, asbefore. However, the communications path between the advertisers 16 andthe WAN 14 is purely optional. In other words, the techniques allow anadvertiser 16 to participate in a performance-based advertising programwithout the requirement that the advertiser 16 be coupled to the WAN 14via the communications path 18. In fact, in accordance with thetechniques disclosed herein, it is not necessary that the advertisers 16have web pages. Instead, in accordance with the techniques disclosedherein, an alternative non-web based communications path 22 is providedbetween the clients 10 and the advertisers 16. According to someembodiments, the non-web based communications path 22 may be provided bya conventional telephone network. Alternatively, the non-web basedcommunications path 22 may utilize Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)technology to couple a client through switches of the network 14, andswitches of a public telephone network, in a manner that does notrequire the advertisers 16 to have a connection to the network 14. Inaddition, the advertiser could be notified via other media channels,such as email, chat, instant message, VoIP clients, etc.

FIG. 3 of the drawings illustrates a technique to establish the non-webbased communications path 22 of FIG. 2, in accordance with oneembodiment. Referring to FIG. 3, at block 26, a unique telephone numberis assigned to an advertiser 16. Thereafter, at block 28, anadvertisement associated with the advertiser 16 is provisioned orpublished on a publication or media channel on behalf of the advertiser.The advertisement includes either the unique telephone number, or areference to the unique telephone number. At block 30, telephone callsto the unique telephone number are monitored, as will be described. Atblock 32, the advertiser is charged based on the phone call activitythrough the assigned telephone number, as will be described.

FIG. 4 of the drawings shows a functional description of a system toimplement the method of FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 4, the system includesaccount creation and management module 34, advertisement publicationmodule 36, call handling module 38, and billing module 40. Inalternative embodiments, additional, less, or different modules may beincluded in the system.

The components of the account creation and management module 34, inaccordance with one embodiment, are shown in more detail in FIG. 5 ofthe drawings. Referring to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the accountcreation and management module 34 includes a user interface module 44,an advertisement creation module 46, and a payment specification module48. The user interface module 44 includes logic to present informationto a user, and to receive information from the user. For example, in oneembodiment, the user interface module 44 causes a web page such as theweb page 112 of FIG. 8 to be displayed on a browser of a client.

The advertisement creation module 46 includes text creation logic 50.The purpose of text creation logic 50 is to allow an advertiser 16, oran agent working on behalf of an advertiser 16, to input text for anadvertisement which is ultimately created by the advertisement creationmodule 46. In order to enhance understanding, for the remainder of thisdescription, a local business enterprise called “Burt's Plumbing” willbe used as an example of an advertiser that may benefit from thetechniques disclosed herein. Burt's Plumbing may or not have directconnectivity to the network 14. If Burt's Plumbing does not have directconnectivity to the network 14, then a representative of Burt's Plumbing(hereinafter “Burt”) will have to gain access to a computer that doeshave connectivity to the network 14 in order to view the web page 112 ofFIG. 8A. For example, Burt could use a computer of a friend, a computerat a local library, etc. In another embodiment, a search operator, anInternet yellow page provider or other type of publisher could performor administer this activity on behalf of Burt. The text creation logic50 allows Burt to input for e.g. the text “Burt's Plumbing in SanFrancisco. Check out our special deals,” which will be included in theadvertisement when it is rendered. The module 46 also includes key wordassociation logic 57 that allows Burt to input certain key words whichare then associated with Burt's advertisement. The idea here is thatwhen one of the clients 10 initiates a search through the search engine19 using a key word that matches one of the key words entered by Burt,then Burt's advertisement will be displayed within a result of thesearch. Since Burt's Plumbing is not a national operation or enterpriseit is necessary to display Burt's advertisement to clients within acertain geographic area. Thus, the module 46 includes locationdetermination logic 54 that builds a geographic location association toBurt's advertisement. In one embodiment, the location determinationlogic 54 allows Burt to select a particular geographic location ofinterest, say for example San Francisco, so that Burt's advertisementwill be displayed to clients searching within the San Francisco area.

In one embodiment, the module 46 also includes telephone number autogeneration logic 56 that automatically generates a unique telephonenumber, maps the unique telephone number to Burt's actual telephonenumber such that when the unique number is called, Bert's phone rings,and associates the unique phone number with Burt's advertisement. In oneembodiment, the telephone number is generated or selected from a pool ofnumbers at the time the advertisement is created; alternatively, thetelephone number is generated or selected at the time the advertisementis being requested for display. In one embodiment, the telephone numberthat is automatically generated, may be a toll free number. In oneembodiment, the telephone number may be a local number with the samearea code as Burt's actual telephone number. In one embodiment, thetelephone number may be an easily recognizable 800 number, modified by aunique extension mapped to Burt's business telephone number. Forexample, in one embodiment, a number could be the number“1-800-YEL-PAGES-1234.” The 1234 portion of the 800 number is the uniqueextension that is mapped to Burt's telephone number so that when asearcher calls the number 1 800 YEL PAGES-1234, the call will beautomatically routed to Burt's telephone as will be described in moredetail below.

In one embodiment, the telephone number (e.g., a traditional telephonenumber with or without an extension, or a VoIP-based telephonereference, such as a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address) isautomatically generated or selected at the time the advertisement isbeing requested for display. Alternatively, the telephone numberassigned to the advertiser is generated or selected at the time thesystem accepts the submission of the advertisement from the advertiser.Alternatively, the telephone number assigned to the advertiser isgenerated or selected at the time the advertisement is being activatedfor publication via the system.

In one embodiment, the advertisement creation module 46, automaticallyinserts the unique telephone number assigned to Burt directly intoBurt's advertisement. Alternatively, click to call logic 58 may beinvoked in order to generate a button, or a clickable telephone number,which is automatically inserted into Burt's advertisement, so that whenthe button or telephone number is selected or clicked by a useroperating a client 10, a telephone call is automatically initiated toBurt's telephone number.

The module 46 also includes on/off logic 60 that allows Burt toselectively turn on or turn off an advertisement. Alternatively, theturn on/off logic 60 allows Burt to assign an active or an inactivestatus to a particular advertisement. When an advertisement is turnedoff or flagged as inactive, it is considered withdrawn, at leasttemporarily, from an advertisement campaign, and is therefore notpublished e.g. through the search engine 19. Alternatively, onlyadvertisements that are turned on, or have a status of “active” arepublished in accordance with the techniques disclosed herein.

The module 46 includes smart connect logic 62 that allows automaticrouting of calls to various telephone numbers. For example, Burt mayinclude a primary telephone number, and one or more secondary telephonenumbers to be associated with his advertisement. Thus, in oneembodiment, the smart connect logic 62 first routes the call to Burt'sprimary telephone number, and if no connection is achieved, then triescyclically through Burt's list of secondary telephone numbers, until aconnection is achieved.

The module 46 also includes arrange a call logic 64 that allows asearcher to input a time at which the searcher wishes to speak to Burt.The system then contacts Burt in order to arrange the call with thesearcher. Burt may be contacted in a variety of ways, for example bysending a facsimile to Burt, by sending an email to Burt, by telephoningBurt, etc. to alert him of the arranged telephone call. In alternativeembodiments, additional, less, or different logic may be included in theadvertisement creation module.

The payment specification module 48, allows Burt to select a particularmodel and various parameters associated with billing. The module 48includes flat fee logic 66 that presents an option to Burt through theuser interface module 44, which if selected will cause Burt to be billedon a flat fee basis for each telephone call received within a particularcategory, or subcategory, or keyword. The module 48 also includes bidfor placement logic 68, that, through the user interface module 44,presents an option to Burt to choose to be billed on a bid-for-placementbasis, as described above. The logic 68 supports proxy bids, andmaximum/minimum bids.

The module 48 also includes spending level logic 70 that allows Burt tospecify daily/weekly/monthly spending levels. The specified spendinglevel essentially defines a budget per time period such that if thebudget is exceeded within a particular time period, then Burt'sadvertisement will be automatically flagged as inactive or turned off,for the remainder of the time period. Burt is notified of this activityby the system and Burt is given the option of reactivating hisadvertisement by adding additional funds to his account. Alternatively,Burt may provide payment information (e.g., a credit card number or bankaccount) to the system such that the system can automatically transferadditional funds, when needed, to his account according to the paymentinformation.

In one embodiment, the billing module 40 includes logic to automaticallywaive charges for leads (calls) from searchers/customers who have calledBurt recently. For example, if a customer calls on one day, and thendials the same number for a follow-up call a day later, the systemautomatically waives the charge for the second call since this lead hasalready been paid for. Thus, the advertiser (Burt) does not have to beconcerned about a customer using the advertised telephone number morethan once and causing multiple charges. In one embodiment, the systemmay be configured to waive the charges on leads from customers who havealready called a particular advertiser within a specified number ofdays. In alternative embodiments, additional, less, or different logicmay be included in the system.

Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawings, the components of theadvertisement publication module 36, are shown in greater detail. Aswill be seen, the module 36 includes an advertisement engine 74, and anadvertisement syndication engine 76. The purpose of the advertisementengine 74 is to automatically provide Burt's advertisement on aparticular channel. In some embodiments, the advertisement engine 74causes a campaign management interface 113 (see FIG. 8B of the drawings)to be displayed to an advertiser. The interface 113 allows theadvertiser to optionally choose a channel, e.g., Ingenio, and a categoryin which the advertisement is to be provisioned/published. The interface113 allows the advertiser to specify the maximum bid amount that theadvertiser is willing to pay to provision the advertisement using theselected channel and category. FIG. 9 of the drawings shows an exampleof a web page 112 within which includes an advertisementrendered/provisioned in accordance with the techniques described herein.In one embodiment, this publication channel may be a web-basedpublication channel which is operated by an operator of the system.

Alternatively, the syndication engine 76 may be used to syndicate Burt'sadvertisement to a number of third parties that host publicationchannels selected by Burt. Thus, in one embodiment, the syndicationengine 76 may cause Burt's advertisement to be syndicated to third partysearch engines, Internet yellow pages, online directories, and othermedia.

As will be seen in FIG. 6 of the drawings, the advertisement engine 74includes price per call logic 78, activity history logic 80, call statuslogic 82, connection success logic 84, manual indexing logic 86, andrandom logic 88. Each of the logic components 78-88 controls a parameterthat forms a basis of how Burt's advertisement is ultimately provided.The price per call logic 78 causes Burt's advertisement to be publishedon a price per call basis. Thus, for example, if Burt is willing only topay a low amount for each call, then his advertisement will be placed orranked low down within a search result page or category of advertisers.Alternatively, if Burt is willing to pay a high price per call, then hisadvertisement will be placed higher up in the search result page orcategory of advertisers. The table below shows how the price per calllogic 78 would rank or place advertisers within a channel based on a bidamount per call that an advertiser is willing to pay:

Placement Advertiser (Bid Amount per call) 1 800-349-2398 ($3.88) 2866-324-3242 ($3.22) 3 800-323-5321 ($2.01)

The activity history logic 80 analyzes the number of calls Burt receivedin a give time period, for example, the last day/week/month, and willrank Burt's advertisement within a display page based on the activityhistory. The call status logic 82, examines the status (active orinactive) of Burt's advertisement, and selectively publishes Burt'sadvertisement based on the status. The connection success logic 84measures a connection success rate for calls to the telephone numberassigned to Burt's advertisement and ranks Burt's advertisement within adisplay page based on the connection success rate. For example, ifBurt's telephone number enjoys a low connection success rate then thelogic 84 will cause Burt's advertisement to be ranked lowly within apublication page. The manual indexing logic 86 allows an operator tomanually index or rank Burt's advertisement within a publication page.The random logic 88 allows Burt's advertisement to be randomly ranked orplaced within a result page. In one embodiment, the ranking of Burt'sadvertisement within a display page may be based on any combination ofthe parameters controlled by the logic components 78-88, which may bedictated by a third party who employs the system. In alternativeembodiments, additional, less, or different logic may be included in theadvertisement engine 74.

In one embodiment, an advertisement engine 74 further includes one ormore modules for searching advertisements according to a query request,sorting advertisements, allocating real time communication references(e.g., traditional telephone numbers, SIP address, user ID of instantmessaging system, etc.).

Referring now to FIG. 7 of the drawings, the components within the callhandling module 38 include a call routing engine 92, and a callmonitoring engine 94. As will be seen, the call routing engine 92includes redirect logic 96 to cause redirection of a telephone call tothe number assigned to Burt's advertisement. The redirection is to atelephone number specified by Burt during creation of the advertisementusing the advertisement creation module 46. The call routing engine 92also includes VoIP logic 98 to route a telephone call to or from aclient to a telephone number specified by Burt in the advertisementusing VoIP technology.

The call routing engine 92 may also include prompt logic 99 that causesa prompt to be played to a caller before routing of a telephone call toBurt's telephone number. In one embodiment, the prompt logic 99 plays aninformation prompt to the caller to inform the caller of Burt's actualtelephone number. Thus, the caller may, in future, call Burt directlyusing Burt's actual telephone number instead of the telephone numberassigned to Burt by the system. In such cases, Burt will not be billedby the system for telephone calls to his actual telephone number. In oneembodiment, the prompt logic 99 may also cause an information prompt tobe played to Burt to inform Burt of the source of the telephone call. Insome cases, the prompt logic 99 may cause an email or facsimile alert tobe automatically generated and sent to an advertiser, in order to informthe advertiser of the telephone number of the caller. An example of suchan email is shown in FIG. 10 of the drawings and is marked as referencenumeral 116. In alternative embodiments, additional, less, or differentlogic may be included in the call routing engine 92.

The call monitoring engine 94 includes call number logic 100 to trackthe number of calls generated in response to Burt's advertisement. Thecall monitoring engine 94 also includes Automatic Number Identification(ANI) logic 102 to identify the number of unique numbers of callers thatcall Burt, automatically. The call monitoring engine also includes calllength logic 104 that monitors the length of each call to Burt.Connection status logic 108 monitors whether a call is successful,whether an engaged or busy tone is encountered, or whether Burt simplydid not answer his telephone. Based on information supplied by logiccomponents 100 106, a report is compiled and may be viewed by Burt. Inone embodiment, the report includes a number of calls, the number ofcalls from unique telephone numbers, the telephone numbers of thecallers, the length of each call, and the number of calls that weresuccessful, for which an engaged tone was returned, or that wentunanswered. In one embodiment, the report provides additionalinformation based on an address lookup of the ANI, including but notlimited to demographic, socioeconomic, and psychometric information. Thereport may be used by Burt in order to monitor the effectiveness of anadvertisement campaign, and to optimize the campaign. In alternativeembodiments, additional, less, or different logic may be included in thecall monitoring engine 94.

In one embodiment, the advertising publication module may publish theadvertisement on a telephone-based advertising service. For example, theadvertisement can be delivered to a consumer through audio as part of avoice portal or telephone-based directory such as a 411 telephonedirectory.

Referring to FIG. 11 of the drawings, reference numeral 150 generallyindicates hardware that may be used to implement the above-describedsystem. The hardware 150 typically includes at least one processor 152coupled to the memory 154. The processor 152 may represent one or moreprocessors (e.g., microprocessors), and the memory 154 may representrandom access memory (RAM) devices comprising a main storage of thehardware 150, as well as any supplemental levels of memory e.g., cachememories, non-volatile or back-up memories (e.g. programmable or flashmemories), read-only memories, etc. In addition, the memory 154 may beconsidered to include memory storage physically located elsewhere in thehardware 150, e.g. any cache memory in the processor 152, as well as anystorage capacity used as a virtual memory, e.g., as stored on a massstorage device 160.

The hardware 150 also typically receives a number of inputs and outputsfor communicating information externally. For interface with a user oroperator, the hardware 150 may include one or more user input devices156 (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, etc.) and a display 158 (e.g., a CathodeRay Tube (CRT) monitor, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel).

For additional storage, the hardware 150 may also include one or moremass storage devices 160, e.g., a floppy or other removable disk drive,a hard disk drive, a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), an opticaldrive (e.g. a Compact Disk (CD) drive, a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)drive, etc.) and/or a tape drive, among others. Furthermore, thehardware 150 may include an interface with one or more networks 162(e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wirelessnetwork, and/or the Internet among others) to permit the communicationof information with other computers coupled to the networks. It shouldbe appreciated that the hardware 150 typically includes suitable analogand/or digital interfaces between the processor 152 and each of thecomponents 154, 156, 158 and 162 as is well known in the art.

The hardware 150 operates under the control of an operating system 164,and executes various computer software applications 166, components,programs, objects, modules, etc. (e.g. a program or module whichperforms operations described above. Moreover, various applications,components, programs, objects, etc. may also execute on one or moreprocessors in another computer coupled to the hardware 150 via a network152, e.g. in a distributed computing environment, whereby the processingrequired to implement the functions of a computer program may beallocated to multiple computers over a network.

As discussed above, the syndicate engine 76 is used to syndicate Burt'sadvertisement to a number of third parties. These demand partners (alsoreferred to herein as syndication partners) can receive a percentage ofthe advertising revenue generated via the pay-per-call method and systemdescribed, herein. Thus, as in the example of the table above, theadvertiser of placement 1 pays $3.88 per call received to phone number800-349-2398. Now suppose the call to the advertiser of placement 1,resulted from an advertisement presented on a demand partner's website.The demand partner would be entitled to a percentage of that $3.88. Thepresent method and system offers multiple embodiments for tracking,monitoring, and determining demand partner compensation.

In one embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 12, in process1202 an advertiser (also referred to herein as a merchant or listing) isgiven a separate telephone number for each separate demand partner thatis posting the merchant's advertisement. As described herein, inmultiple embodiments, telephonic references, including telephone numbersand telephone extensions corresponding to a base telephone number, areassigned using the telephone number auto generation logic 56.

In one embodiment, the alias phone number is mapped to the advertiser'sactual phone number, and calls made to the alias are monitored in orderto track the respective demand partners. Therefore, in process 1204billing module 40 tracks and/or credits demand partners a percentage ofthe revenue charged to the advertiser (or collected from the advertiser)for calls placed to the advertiser's alias telephone numbercorresponding to the respective demand partner.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 13, inprocess 1302 an advertiser receives a single/base (the same) telephonenumber for a set of the demand partners. In process 1304, a separateextension is assigned to the advertiser for each of the separate demandpartners. More specifically, the separate demand partners list the sametelephone number for the advertiser, but also include an extensionunique to the respective demand partner. For example, a listing couldhave the number “(800) new-cars” for the set of demand partners, buteach demand partner posting the common telephone number for theadvertiser would also provide a separate extension corresponding to therespective demand partner (e.g., ext. 102 corresponding to the XYZsyndication partner, ext. 104 corresponding to the ABC syndicationpartner, etc.) In process 1306, billing module 40 tracks and/or creditsa demand partner a percentage of the revenue charged to the advertiser(or collected from the advertiser), for calls placed to the advertiservia the telephone extension corresponding to the respective demandpartner.

In an alternative embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 14,in process 1402 a demand partner uses a base telephone (i.e., a single)number for a set of advertisers. In process 1404, the demand partnerprovides a separate extension to each of the advertisers using the samebase number. For example, the demand partner could use the telephonenumber (800) Call XYZ for a set of advertisers, and provide theextension 102 for Joe's plumbing, and extension 104 for Carl's plumbing,etc. In process 1406, billing module 40 tracks and/or credits a demandpartner a percentage of the revenue charged to the advertiser (orcollected from the advertiser), for calls placed to the advertiser viathe base telephone number corresponding to the respective demand partnerand the unique telephone extension assigned to the advertiser at therespective demand partner.

According to another embodiment, a click-to-reveal method is proposed,as described in co-pending U.S. Patent Application No. 60/552,124,entitled “A Method and Apparatus to Provide Pay-Per-Call PerformanceBased Advertising and Billing” filed on Mar. 10, 2004, hereinincorporated by reference. As described in the flow diagram of FIG. 15,in process 1502 a user is presented with an advertisement via a demandpartner's website. The advertisement does not show the advertiser'scomplete phone number, but instead contains a hyperlink to reveal theadvertiser's phone number, or the remaining portion of the telephonenumber. In process 1504, the advertisement engine 74 monitors the numberof click-throughs to reveal the advertiser's number. In one embodiment,it is assumed that each click-through from a demand partner results in acall to the respective advertiser. As a result, in process 1506 billingmodule 40 tracks and/or calculates an amount to credit a demand partnerbased at least in part on a number of click-throughs to reveal anadvertiser's telephone number.

In yet another alternative embodiment, a demand partner is provided witha click to call format. In one embodiment, as described in the flowdiagram of FIG. 16, in process 1602 in addition to listing a telephonenumber for an advertiser (or in place of listing a telephone number forthe advertiser) a link (e.g., a hyperlink, or an icon, or a button) isprovided by the demand partner to initiate establishing a telephoneconnection between the viewer/customer and the advertiser in response tothe viewer/customer activating/selecting the hyperlink provided. In oneembodiment, in process 1604, in response to activating/selecting thehyperlink provided, the viewer/customer is prompted for their telephonenumber to establish the telephone connection with the advertiser. Afterthe customer enters their telephone number, a telephone connection isestablished between the customer and the advertiser.

In yet another embodiment, if the viewer/customer has a VoIPcommunications device, VoIP logic 98 may connect the advertiser to theviewer/customer without the need for the customer/viewer to providetheir telephone number. The VoIP communications device includestelephony devices attached to the user's computer, as well as mobilecommunication devices, such as PDA's and cellular phones.

In the embodiment employing a click to call (for PSTN and VoIPconnections), in process 1604, a demand partner providing the click tocall option would be tracked/credited (i.e., a percentage of the chargeto the advertiser) each time a viewer/customer selects/activates a clickto call icon for the respective advertiser.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 17, inprocess 1702 an advertiser is given one telephone number for a set ofdemand partners. In process 1704, credits to the demand partners forcalls placed to the advertiser's listed telephone number are proratedbased on a number of page views for the advertiser's telephone numberlisting via the respective demand partners. For example, if 70% of theadvertiser's page views are accessed via demand partner ABC, and 30% ofthe advertiser's page views are accessed via demand partner XYZ, the ABCdemand partner would receive 70% and the demand partner XYZ wouldreceive 30% of the credits payable to the demand partners for callsplaced to the advertiser's listed telephone number.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 18, inprocess 1802 at least a first set of advertisers are given uniquetelephonic reference for each demand partner. One or more advertisersare each given one telephonic reference for a set demand partners.

In process 1804, a statistical sampling of calls to advertisers with theunique telephonic reference is generated. In one embodiment, thestatistical sampling represents a sampling of a percentage of calls toan advertiser (or set of advertisers) that originate from anadvertisement listed by a first demand partner compared to calls thatoriginate from the same (or similar) advertisement listed by otherdemand partners. In one embodiment, the samplings may be separated basedon a category of advertisers (e.g., restaurants, automobiles, etc.).

In process 1806, the samplings are used as a basis fortracking/crediting the demand partners with a percentage of the chargesto at least a set of the advertisers. Consider the example advertisers 1and 2 are each give a unique telephone, and 70% of the calls toadvertisers 1 and 2 are from telephonic references listed by partnerABC. Given the example, an assumption is made that 70% of the calls tothe advertisers using a common number among the demand partners, areoriginated from advertisements listed by partner ABC.

Therefore, in one embodiment, based on the statistical sampling, partnerABC would be credited for 70% of the calls placed to the advertisersusing a common number among the demand partners. In one embodiment,tracking/crediting the demand partners based on the statistical samplingcould also be applied to the advertisers using unique numbers among thedemand partners.

As described above, telephone-call tracking is used to determine thenumber of phone calls a particular party, or directory, has received. Itcan be useful for a variety of purposes. It is particularly useful inmeasuring the success of advertising. For instance, a telephonedirectory may offer advertising placements to its advertisers, such asplumbers. By tracking the number of phone calls a particularadvertisement has received, the directory can demonstrate the value ofits advertising to the advertiser.

Telephone-call tracking can be used to measure the effectiveness of avariety of advertising vehicles in addition to the physical yellow-pagesphone book. Newspaper classifieds can utilize call tracking, as cantelevision commercials that display phone numbers for consumers to call.By counting the number of telephone calls such advertisements receive,the campaign's effectiveness can be measured. This is of benefit both tothe advertiser and to the directory/publisher.

Telephone-call tracking can be also used as such in directories that areonline, such as online yellow pages. Similarly, it can be used to trackthe success of online search advertising, such as keyword advertising.

Telephone-call tracking is particularly useful in pay-for-performanceadvertising systems, as described in several embodiments above. Inpay-for-performance systems, advertisers pay when an advertisementperforms. For instance, an advertiser can pay $1 each time a potentialcustomer clicks on an online-search advertisement. Similarly, inpay-per-call advertising systems, such as that described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/872,117, filed Jun. 17, 2004, an advertiser'spayments are linked to the number of calls that advertiser receives. Insuch a pay per call advertising system, call tracking is vital, sincecounting the number of calls received determines the amount that theadvertiser must pay. In one embodiment, not only are the number of callsreceived counted but also the time of the call, since in one embodimentan advertiser may bid to pay a higher price per call in order to receivea more prominent placement for their advertisement.

In one embodiment, not only is it designed to track the number of callsand precise time of calls, but the demand source at which the callerviewed the advertisement may also be tracked. Online directories canhave many different external web sites through which they syndicate thesame advertisers, and it can be useful to know from which web site thephone call originated so that, in some cases, the directory cancompensate the external web site for having brought customers.Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/560,926, filed on Apr.9, 2004, outlines this case.

Tracking phone calls may include publishing a unique phone number thatis different from the advertiser's standard phone number. When a callerviews the advertisement, the unique phone number appears, and the callerdials it. The call coming in on the unique phone number is thenrerouted, using the call tracker's telephony equipment, to theadvertiser's standard phone number. In addition to rerouting the call,the call tracker also records that a call was made and the precisetime/duration of the call. In a pay-per-call advertising system, thisinformation can be used to bill the advertiser for the call.

In cases where directories would also like to identify the demand sourceof the call, a single advertiser will have to be given multiple uniquephone numbers, one for each demand source where that advertiser appears.For instance, the advertisement of a single plumber might be displayedin two different online directories and three different online searchengines. In order to track which of these demand sources produced a callfrom a customer, the single plumber would have to be assigned fivedifferent unique telephone numbers. By monitoring which unique phonenumber was dialed, it can be determined which demand source deserves thecredit for producing the call.

A potential problem with this approach is that it can require very manyunique phone numbers. A single plumber could have five differentadvertisements, which each could be syndicated across 100 web-sitedirectories, resulting in the provisioning of 500 unique phone numbersjust to track the call distribution of a single plumber. A directorywith 100,000 advertisers would need many millions of unique phonenumbers to track call distribution. Unique phone numbers, either localnumbers or toll-free 1-800 numbers, can be expensive to provision. Usinglarge quantities of them as outlined above is prohibitively expensive.

One embodiment, therefore, provides a system to allocate and recycletelephone numbers. In one embodiment, the telephone numbers areallocated dynamically, only when they are needed. As a result, far fewernumbers are necessary. For instance, it could be that a particularplumber's advertisement for “industrial shower heads” might never bedisplayed at a certain search engine website. It would therefore bewasteful to allocate a unique phone number for that advertisement atthat website. Only if a customer searches for “industrial shower heads”at that particular website should the system, dynamically, at thatmoment, allocate a unique phone number. This way, numbers would only beallocated when they are needed, and waste would be reduced.

In addition, one embodiment recycles numbers, thereby further reducingthe total amount of numbers needed. For example, if a certain amount oftime has passed since a unique number has been displayed, the system mayautomatically consider the number “clean” and recycle it, placing itback into the pool of numbers. Similarly, if a certain amount of timehas passed since a unique number has been called, the system mayautomatically consider the number “clean” and recycle it, placing itback into the pool of numbers. Using these and other parameters, oneembodiment conserves and recycles unique telephone numbers, requiringless telephone numbers and potentially reducing cost.

FIG. 19 provides a flow diagram describing the processes of allocatingtelephone numbers in accordance with one embodiment. Referring to FIG.19, in process 1902 a telephone number is dynamically allocated to anadvertisement on a just-in-time basis. For example, the telephone numberis allocated in response to an end-user search submitted to a demandpartner that would call for a particular advertiser's telephone numberto be displayed. In one embodiment, a pool of unallocated telephonenumbers is maintained. An unallocated telephone number is a telephonenumber that is not preassigned or linked in any way to a particularadvertisement, advertiser, or demand partner. The process 1902 isperformed by selecting a telephone number from the pool of unallocatedtelephone numbers and allocating the selected telephone number to theadvertisement on a just-in-time basis. By use of the term “just-in-timebasis” it is meant that the telephone number remains in the pool ofunallocated telephone numbers and gets assigned or allocated to aparticular advertisement just before a customer is about to view anadvertisement that would include the telephone number.

In process 1904, if the telephone number that was allocated to theadvertisement is not called for a predefined period of time, then thetelephone number is unallocated and recycled into the pool ofunallocated telephone numbers. For example, in one embodiment, thepredefined period may be a fixed number of days. If no telephone call ismade to the telephone number, then the telephone number getsunallocated.

In reference to FIG. 19, if the allocated telephone number does getcalled within the predefined time period, then the telephone number iscorrelated with the advertisement/advertiser to which it was allocated.Once the telephone call using the allocated telephone number is made,then the allocated telephone number is assigned to the advertiserassociated with the advertisement (herein after the “associatedadvertisement”). Otherwise, if the allocated telephone number is notcalled, then the number remains free, and may be used for all demandpartners.

In one embodiment, if the advertisement served by a demand partnerresults in a query, but no telephone call, then the dynamicallyallocated telephone number is associated with the advertisement for apredefined period of time. If the dynamically allocated telephone numberis called within that predefined period of time, then the telephonenumber is associated with the advertisement for a longer period of time.

Referring again to FIG. 19, in process 1906, it is determined inconnection with which advertisement the call to the allocated telephonenumber occurred. This determination is made for purposes ofcompensating/crediting demand partner that was the effective cause ofthe telephone call to the allocated telephone number.

FIG. 20 presents a flow diagram describing the process of determining ademand partner to be credited with serving an advertisement thatproduced a phone call. In one embodiment, the determination is based ona temporal proximity between when a demand partner served the associatedadvertisement, and when the call occurred. In process 2002, if aparticular demand partner was the only demand partner that served theassociated advertisement within a predefined time period before the calloccurred, then in process 2004 the particular demand partner isdetermined to be the demand partner in connection with which the calloccurred. For example, if a demand partner X was the only demand partnerthat served the associated advertisement say within the past 30 minutes,then the demand partner X is determined to be the demand partner inconnection with which the telephone call was made.

In one embodiment, if more than one demand partner served the associatedadvertisement within a predefined time period before the call occurred,then in process 2006 the telephone call is counted as part of a pool ofdisputable telephone calls. In one embodiment, in process 2008 credit isgiven to particular demand partners for which calls are placed in thepool of disputable calls, based on the proportion of indisputable callsattributable to the particular demand partner. For example, if aparticular demand partner X has been attributed 70% off the indisputablecalls, then demand partner X will also be attributed 70% off the callsin the disputable pool.

In another embodiment, the same telephone number may be allocated todifferent demand partners for the same advertiser/advertisement, therebyto reduce the number of required telephone numbers. FIG. 21 presents aflow diagram describing the processes of allocating a telephone numberfor an advertiser/advertisement to multiple demand partners. In process2102, if an advertisement is served by a first demand partner, and thenby a second demand partner within a predefined period of time, say 30minutes, then in process 2104 the second demand partner would beallocated a new or different telephone number. However, if the serviceon the second demand partner occurs beyond the predefined period of time(30 minutes), then in process 2106 the same telephone number may beallocated to the second demand partner. In general, the longer theperiod within which no call occurs after the first service, the morefeasible it becomes to use the same telephone number allocated to thefirst demand partner since the probability of having a disputabletelephone.

Example Implementation of Allocating Telephone Numbers

An example of the one embodiment of the A web advertising companypromotes advertisements from local merchants—plumbers, roofers,dentists—all across the country. It promotes the advertisements bysyndicating them at 1,000 different web sites. To track the callactivity that results from these promotions, the advertising companymaintains a pool of 50,000 unique phone numbers.

For instance, at a single website, at the moment when a user searchesfor “dentist in Kansas City,” the advertising company communicates withthe website to insert advertisements for the ten dentists who havepurchased advertising for the Kansas City area. The ten dentists havepurchased the advertising by agreeing to “pay per call,” meaning theywill pay a fee, such as $5, at the moment a call comes in from apotential customer. The dentists can pay a higher fee if they would liketo be displayed higher than their peers. The advertising companydisplays the dentists in descending order from the highest per-callprice to the lowest.

When the advertising company displays the three advertisements upon thewebsite, it dynamically allocates unique phone numbers that appear inthe advertisements. This way, if a dentist is called by a potentialcustomer, the advertising company can determine which website wasresponsible for the call taking place. It can also determine the time ofthe call and bill the dentist the amount the dentist had agreed to payper call at that moment. Once having done so, the advertising companyroutes the call to the dentist's standard phone number, and the dentistreceives the call.

Of the ten unique telephone numbers that were displayed, several of themwere toll-free 1-800 or 1-866 numbers. One of them was a local KansasCity 913 area-code number because that dentist requested that hisadvertisement only be shown with a unique phone number that appears tobe local.

The advertising company is syndicating the ten dentists' advertisementsacross 1,000 different websites. Throughout the day, it is continuallydisplaying the ten dentists at hundreds of different sites, whenever anend user happens to search on dentists in Kansas City. In order to trackthe resulting call activity, if the advertising company were to allocatea unique telephone number for each dentist at each of the 1,000websites, it would have to allocate 10,000 unique telephone numbers.Since unique telephone numbers are costly to provision and maintain,this would be a very expensive proposition. The advertising company mustfind a way to minimize the unique telephone numbers it allocates, and byno means can it use more than the 50,000 total unique numbers it has inits pool.

In order to reduce the unique telephone numbers it must allocate, theadvertising company uses the techniques to dynamically allocate andrecycle unique telephone numbers. In the case of the Kansas Citydentists, it does not allocate all 10,000 combinations to begin with.Instead, it only allocates a unique telephone number at the moment asearch is done for Kansas City dentists at a particular website. Thedynamic, “just in time” allocation, prevents the wasteful allocation ofnumbers to advertisements that may never be summoned and displayed.

In one embodiment, a system records that a particular advertiser'sadvertisement was displayed at a certain time at a particular websitewith a particular unique telephone number. As more and moreadvertisements are displayed at different websites, in one embodimentthe system keeps track of when each of the allocated telephone numberswere respectively last displayed.

FIG. 22 presents a flow diagram describing one embodiment of recyclingtelephone numbers. In one embodiment, in process 2202 an active “displayqueue” of telephone numbers is maintained. The active display queuelists the telephone numbers according to the time they have beendisplayed from “youngest” (displayed recently) to “oldest” (displayedlonger ago).

When, for instance, an advertiser's advertising is displayed at aparticular website and a unique telephone number is required, in process2204 a telephone is selected from the “oldest” end of the display queue,or a telephone number that has not relatively recently been displayed.Since presumably there is a finite pool of numbers it could be that thephone number that is picked has been used before. But since it is the“oldest” number—displayed perhaps five weeks ago, there is a greaterprobability that this number will not be confused with the advertisementit was displayed with in the past. In this way, telephone numbers arerecycled based on the time of last display to reduce potentialconfusion.

In one embodiment, in process 2206 the system determines if the selectedtelephone number was recently displayed within a predefined period oftime. For instance, the system can check whether a telephone number wasdisplayed in a different context within, for example, in the last 24hours. If the selected telephone number was displayed within thepredefined period of time, in process 2208 then the number pool is indanger of over-recycling and the selected telephone number is notallocated at that time.

If the system determines the selected telephone number was not displayedwithin the predefined period of time, in one embodiment, in process 2210the system proceeds to determine whether the selected telephone phonenumber was recently called within a predefined period of time. Forexample, if a telephone number was displayed on a dentist'sadvertisement three months ago, but last called yesterday, it couldintroduce confusion if the number is reallocated to a plumber today.

If the system determines that the selected telephone number has not beendisplayed within a predefined period of time (e.g., 24 hours) and hasnot been called within a second predefined period of time (e.g., thelast 30 days), in process 2212 the system deems the selected telephonenumber to be safe, and the selected telephone number is allocated to bedisplayed in a new context.

As previously described, if the selected number (presumably the “oldestnumber” displayed) was last displayed within the predefined period oftime, the selected number does not pass the minimum threshold. As aresult, the number pool may then be in jeopardy of over-recycling andalternative measures are taken by the system to select a telephonenumber for allocation.

In one embodiment, the system then evaluates the number pool based onhow often the numbers have been called. In one embodiment, the systemmaintains an active “call-time queue” of the telephone numbers that havebeen called, listing them from “youngest” (called recently) to “oldest”(called longer ago). In process 2214, if the “oldest” number in thedisplay queue was last displayed within the predefined period of time,in one embodiment, the system then evaluates the “oldest” number in thecall-time queue. If the “oldest” number in the call-time queue was lastcalled in greater than the second predefined threshold, then systemselects the “oldest” number in the call-time queue to be allocated.

If neither the “oldest” number in the display queue nor the “oldest”number in the call-time queue meets the respective minimum thresholds,then other measures may be taken by the system. In process 2216, thesystem evaluates which of the two “oldest” numbers is closer to meetingits respective safety threshold, and selects that telephone number to beallocated for display. By evaluating numbers according to the time oflast display and time of last call, the system recycles numbers with thereduced probability for end-user confusion.

Due to the dual queue procedures, the system will not breakcatastrophically—it will only become gradually less safe if isoverburdened. If numbers are displayed and called too often, all numberswill be below the minimum display and call thresholds, but the systemwill still function. In fact, it will produce the safest number giventhe pool it has to deal with. In the case of overburden, the system willautomatically cycle through the numbers faster, making them collectivelymore “dirty,” but not failing. In such a case, in process 2218 thesystem automatically issues a warning to the administrator at thispoint, indicating that more “clean” numbers need to be added to thenumber pool. In alternative embodiments, more or less of the processesdescribed in relation to FIG. 22 may be used.

In addition to optimizing the cleanliness of the pool of telephonenumbers, one embodiment of the system may execute procedures to improveefficiency of allocating recycled telephone numbers. FIG. 23 provides aflow diagram describing additional processes for allocating telephonenumbers in accordance with one embodiment. In process 2302 the systemdetermines if a particular advertisement (or different advertisementsassociated with the same advertiser) has summoned twice at the samewebsite. If the particular advertisement (or different advertisementsassociated with the same advertiser) has been summoned twice at the samewebsite, in process 2304 the system will reallocate the same phonenumber for both instances. If the particular advertisement (or differentadvertisements associated with the same advertiser) has not beensummoned twice at the same website, in process 2306 the system mayallocate a new phone number.

In addition, in one embodiment, when a caller dials a unique phonenumber that has been allocated by the system for display, in process2308 the system checks whether that caller (identified uniquely by theircaller ID) has ever dialed that unique phone number before. If so, inprocess 2310 the system connects the caller with the advertiser thatoriginally was associated with that unique phone number even if thephone number has now been reallocated to a second advertiser. Theprobability is the greatest that the caller is repeat-calling theoriginal advertiser. The chances are small that the same caller wouldcall two different merchants who both happen to have been allocated thesame unique phone number by the system. Therefore, for the increasedlikelihood of success, the system connects the caller to the advertiserthat the caller has called previously, even if the phone number hassince been reallocated.

In one embodiment, the system is also able to maintain separate pools ofunique numbers based on a variety of factors. FIG. 24 presents a flowdiagram describing the processes of maintaining the separate pools ofunique telephone numbers in accordance with one embodiment. In process2402, the system maintains different pools of telephone numberscorresponding to different partner syndicates. For instance, one largesyndicate may request that none of its numbers ever be recycled to mixwith a rival syndicate. In process 2404, the system maintains differentpools of telephone numbers corresponding to different categories ofadvertisers. For example, the system may maintain separate telephonenumber pools for democratic and republican causes to reduce chances thatcallers will be connected by mistake to the other party.

In process 2406, in one embodiment, the system provides selectadvertisers, or groups of advertisers, with firm numbers that do not getrecycled. Some advertisers, for instance, do not want their number toever change or be recycled, and the system can omit these advertisersfrom the recycling procedures, to provide them with constant telephonenumbers.

Similarly, in process 2408, in one embodiment, the system providesselected advertisers or groups of advertisers with specific telephonenumbers for a specified duration of time. Afterwards, the telephonenumbers may be recycled. For instance, a daily newspaper might publishthe trackable phone numbers of the five travel agents who have special“deals of the day.” In this case, the phone numbers should not changefor the duration of at least one day, after which they could then enterthe recycling process.

In one embodiment, the unique telephone numbers assigned to anadvertiser and or a demand partner is for a short period of time afterthe listing of the advertiser containing the unique telephone numbers ispresented. After the time period, the telephone numbers can bere-assigned to other advertisers.

FIG. 25 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment.

In FIG. 25, a database (2521) may contain the phone numbers of targetphone A (2531), target phone B (2533), . . . , target phone X (2539),etc. Typically, the target phones belong to the institutions,businesses, individuals, etc, which seek for publicity through variousmedia channels, such as media channel A (2501) (e.g., web server), mediachannel B (2502) (e.g., WAP server), media channel C (2503) (e.g., shortmessaging service center), media channel D (2504) (e.g., custom server),media channel E (2507) (e.g., cable television), media channel E (2508)(e.g., news press), media channel G (2509) (e.g., radio station), etc.

In one embodiment, the phone numbers of the target phones are notdirectly publicized over the media channels. Instead, encoded targetphone numbers (2523) are used. Using the encoded target phone numbers(2523), a user cannot reach target phones directly. The encoded targetphone numbers (2523) allow the association of additional informationwith the target phone numbers, such as the media channels used, specialpromotions, etc.

The encoded target phone numbers are delivered with content information(e.g., web page, WAP page, short message, television programs, newsarticles, etc.) to user devices, such as user device A (2511) (e.g.,cellular phone), user device B (2512) (e.g., personal digital assistant(PDA)), user device C (2513) (e.g., computer), user device D (2516)(e.g., receiver), user device E (2518) (e.g., newspaper).

In one embodiment, a user device can include a USB phone, a Bluetoothwireless phone, or one or more speakers or headphones with one ormicrophones for the implementation of a software based phone.

In one embodiment, the user devices/phones support one or more real timecommunication capabilities, such as VoIP using Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) which may support video and instant-messagingapplications, IP phone, regular phone over VoIP service, Bluetoothwireless phone, USB phone, software based phone, and other forms of IPtelephony.

In one embodiment, the user device can include a television set toreceive the advertisement. Further, the television set may have thecapability to accept user input so that the television content may bechanged according to the user input (e.g., interactive television, webtelevision, internet television, etc.), or be coupled with a set top boxwhich has such capability. The user input may be provided to the contentprovider through the same communication channel in which the televisioncontent/programs are delivered (e.g., a cable system of a cabletelevision system), or a separate channel (e.g., a phone line, anInternet connection, etc.). The user input may include a request to makea connection to an advertiser featured in an advertisement presented ina television program, such as a request for a telephonic connection tothe advertiser.

In one embodiment, the user devices are mobile devices, such as PDA,cellular phone, etc. The user devices obtain content information,including advertisements, through wireless communication connections,such as cellular communication links, wireless access points forwireless local area network, etc.

In one embodiment, a user device (e.g., a cellular phone, a computer, aPDA) can receive content information from multiple types of mediachannels (e.g., a web server, a WAP server, an SMSC, CHTML, etc.).

In one embodiment, a user device is capable to dial a phone call (e.g.,automatically according to the encoded phone number embedded in thecontent information when a user selects the number). Alternatively, auser may manually dial a phone call using a separate phone, such as userphone S (2517) or user phone T (2519).

In one embodiment, dialing at least a portion of an encoded target phonenumber connects the phone call to a phone decoder and router (2525)first. According to the encoded target phone number dialed, the phonedecoder and router (2525) determines the corresponding target phonenumber using the database (2521) and connects the phone call to thecorresponding target phone (e.g., one of target phones 2531-2539)through the telephone network (2527).

Note the telephone network (2527) may be circuit switched, packetswitched, or partially circuit switched and partially packet switched.For example, the telephone network may partially use the Internet tocarry the phone call (e.g., through VoIP). For example, the connectionbetween the user phone/device and the phone decoder and router (2525)may be carried using VoIP; and the connection between the phone decoderand router (2525) may be carried using a land-line based, circuitswitched telephone network.

In one embodiment, the information associated with the encoded targetphone number, such as the media channel used to provide the encodedtarget phone number to the users, is also decoded/retrieved using thedatabase (2521). Thus, the information associated with the encodedtarget phone number can be tracked/stored.

In one embodiment, the phone decoder and router (2525) also determinesthe phone number of the user through Automatic Number Identification(ANI). ANI is a phone system feature that provides the billing number ofthe person making the phone call.

The information about the caller, target phone number, the media channelused for delivering the contact information to the user can be used tobill the caller and/or the target phone number, and providecredit/compensation for the corresponding media channel.

For example, the advertisements for target phone numbers can be paid foron a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking the calls can be usedfor billing the advertisers. Alternatively, the users may be seeking thecontact information on a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking thecalls can be used for billing the users.

In one embodiment, the additional information associated with theencoded target phone number is used to provide credit/compensation tothe operators of the corresponding media channels that are responsiblefor leading the users to the phone calls to the target phones. Thesystem can further track the time and duration of the phone calls andother information, such as conditional promotions, electronic coupons,etc.

The information about the media channels that are responsible forleading the users to the phone calls to the target phones can also beuseful for the advertisers. The advertisers may wish to know which mediachannel is more effective in reaching users. For example, using thestatistic information about the media channels which successfully bringin phone calls, the advertisers may fine tune advertisement strategies.Further, different media channels may charge differently for theadvertisements; and the advertisers may bid differently on differentmedia channels for their advertisements.

In one embodiment, an encoded target phone number has the same number ofdigits as a standard phone number (e.g., a typical telephone numberassigned by a telephone company). Thus, dialing the encoded target phonenumber is as easy as dialing the target phone number; and dialing thetarget phone number reaches the phone decoder and router (2525). In suchan arrangement, a large number of encoded phone numbers are generallyrequired to differentiate the different target phones and differentmedia channels.

In one embodiment, an encoded target phone number has more digits than astandard phone number. A first portion of the encoded target phonenumber has the same number of digits as a standard phone number to reachthe phone decoder and router (2525) through the telephone network(2527); and a second portion of the encoded target phone number is to bedecoded by the phone decoder and router (2525). For example, the DualTone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) decoder can be installed in the phonedecoder and router (2525) to detect the second portion of the encodedtarget phone number dialed at the user phone. The detected phone numbercan then be used to recover the target phone number. In one embodiment,a human operator or an interactive voice response (IVR) system can beused to receive the second portion of the encoded target phone numberfor decoding.

When an encoded target phone number has more digits than a standardphone number, the additional digits can be implemented as a telephoneextension, or as input to an IVR system. In one embodiment, an encodedtarget phone number includes a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) addressfor the initiation of a VoIP call to the system.

In one embodiment, a single telephone number is used to reach the phonedecoder and router (2525) for different target phone numbers; and theportion of the encoded target phone number that is used to reach thephone decoder and router (2525) is not used in determining theinformation associated with the encoded target phone number.

Alternatively, multiple telephone numbers can be used to reach the phonedecoder and router (2525); and the entire encoded target phone numbercan be used to determine the information associated with the encodedtarget phone number.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers can have differentnumbers of digits. The advertisers may be arranged to bid for shorterencoded target phone numbers.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers are assigned onlywhen needed for use in a media channel. For example, when a query isreceived at the server of the system, the system assigns phone numbersfor the advertisements that satisfy the query.

In one embodiment, a look-up table approach is used to encode theinformation. For example, the database (2521) keeps track of theinformation about the media channel and the target phone number (andother information, if any) for the encoded target phone number so thatthe encoded target phone number can be used as a key to retrieve thecorresponding information. Thus, it is not necessary to have apredetermined structure to encode the information about the mediachannels and the target phone number.

Alternatively, algorithms can be used to generate and encode targetphone number and associated information. For example, a predeterminedalgorithm may be used to encode different information in the targetphone number. For example, the target phone number may include a numberof field separated by “*” or “#”. Each of the field can be decodedseparately (e.g., from a separate look up table or a mapping algorithm)to determine the target phone number, identity of the media channel,etc.

For example, a set of parameters can be mapped from a string ofcharacters to a string of numerical digits as a part of the encodedtarget phone number; and the string of numbers can be mapped back intothe string of characters at the phone decoder and router (2525). Whensuch a mapping scheme is used, a look up table is not necessary. Forexample, an encoded target phone number may include a first portion thatis the phone number of the phone decoder and router (2525), a secondportion that is the target phone number appended with a number mappedfrom an identifier of the media channel. To prevent the user fromdialing the target phone number directly, an encryption/scramblingscheme can be used to encode the second portion, which is decoded at thephone decoder and router (2525).

In one embodiment, the phone decoder and router (2525) determines thetarget phone number from the encoded target phone number dialed by theuser and then dials the target phone number for the user and joins thephone calls so that the user can talk to the target phone.

In one embodiment, users dial the encoded target phone numbers manually.A user can dial the encoded target phone number regardless the userdevice used and the media channel used.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, user devices can automatically dialthe encoded target phone numbers. For example, a cellular phone, acomputer or a PDA can dial a phone number using a Dual ToneMulti-Frequency (DTMF) generator. In one embodiment, the encoded targetphone numbers are presented in the content information in a format suchthat when the user selects the phone number the user device (e.g., acellular phone or a computer) dials the encoded target phone number forthe user. The user selection may be in the form of a keyboard/keypadinput, a touch pad input, a track ball input, a mouse input, a voicecommand, etc.

In one embodiment, the user device initiates the phone call through aVoIP system when the user selects the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment, the user device dials the phone number for the userwithout the user manually pressing the sequence of the encoded targetphone numbers. This greatly simplifies the process of make the phonecall. Since a user device can dial a long sequence of number easily, alarge number of digits can be used to encode the information withoutpresenting any difficulties for the users.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers are formatted sothat the user device dials a first portion of the encoded target phonenumbers to access the phone decoder and router (2525), pauses for ashort period of time for the phone decoder and router (2525) to preparefor receiving the second portion of the encoded target phone numbers,and then dials the second portion of the encoded target phone numbers.Thus, the user device provides a user-friendly way of dialing theencoded target phone numbers; and, making the phone call can be as easyas making a “click” to access a web page.

In FIG. 25, the user device initiates the phone call. Alternatively, aphone router may be used to initiate phone calls both to the user device(or a separate user phone) and the target phone and then join the phonecalls to connect the user to the target phone. For example, when theuser selects the encoded target phone number, the selection of thetarget phone number is transmitted to the phone router with the userphone number.

The user phone number can be automatically determined through ANI, orthrough a user preference setting, or through an entry submitted withthe selection of the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment, the selection of the encoded target phone number istransmitted to the corresponding media channel, which forwards therequest for making the phone call to a server (e.g., a web server)connected to the phone router. Alternatively, the content informationcan be formatted so that the selection is sent directly to the serverthat is connected to the phone router.

When the router starts the phone calls, the encoded target phone numbercan also include alphabetic characters (and/or other characters). Theserver and/or the phone router can decode the encoded target phonenumber to recover/retrieve the target phone number and other associatedinformation, such as the identity of the media channel that iscreditable for providing the encoded target phone number to user.

In one embodiment, an advertisement is presented to end users around theglobe without geographical area limitations. For example, an advertisermay provide services and/or products to customers around the globe. Theadvertisement may be delivered to the worldwide users of the Internet.

In one embodiment, the intended audience of an advertisement is thepopulation in a particular geographical area or people interested in aparticular geographical area. For example, an advertiser may limit itsservice area within a geographical area, where the advertiser canprovide services and/or products to the customers more effectively. Forexample, a business may better serve the customers within a convenientwalking/driving distance to the site of the business. A business maylimit the service area within a city, a county, a state, a country, orother types of regional areas. Further, a large business entity havingoffices around the world may want to attract customers in differentgeographical regions to different offices for better services.

In one embodiment, a target geographic area is specified for publicizinga phone number which can be used to reach an advertiser. The targetgeographic area information can be used to effectively reach potentialcustomers and connect the customers to the corresponding phones of theadvertisers.

For example, in one embodiment, the advertiser can specify a geographicservice area corresponding to a phone number. The service area may bespecified in terms of radius, city, region, state or national boundary,etc. The service area can be used to limit the delivery of theadvertisement to customers seeking information in the correspondinggeographic area. The service area can be used to stream information intoa mobile device when the mobile device enters the service area, with orwithout explicit request from the user of the mobile device. The servicearea information can also be used to route the phone to thecorresponding one of the offices of the advertiser, based on thelocation of the caller, if the advertiser has more than one office.

In one embodiment, an advertisement presented in a media channel is fora single advertiser. The end user selects an advertiser according to theadvertisements presented on behalf of individual advertisers; and thephone decoder and router connects the end user and the selectedadvertiser according to the encoded target phone number individuallypublicized in the advertisement for the advertiser. When the user viewsthe online advertisements, the selection of the advertiser is based onthe online information.

In one embodiment, an advertisement is presented in a media channel fora group of advertisers, such as a group of mortgage brokers. Theadvertisement contains an encoded target phone number which is reachableto the group of mortgage brokers. When the encoded target phone numberis selected or used, the selection of a particular advertiser isperformed at the phone decoder and router.

For example, a toll-free number is published to advertise mortgagebrokers in a particular geographic area. When a consumer dials thetoll-free number, the call is routed to the highest bidding mortgagebroker who is available in that market.

The phone decoder and router may select the target advertiser accordingto the bidding of the advertisers for the advertisement. The advertiserwho places the highest bid is the winner for the call. Alternatively, orin combination, other types of selection criteria can also be used. Forexample, the user may be interested in advertisers in a particulargeographical region; and the geographical area of interest to the callercan be determined and used in selecting the target advertiser. Further,the user may be interested in a connection without excessive waitingtime. The status of the availability of the advertisers to answer thecall can be used in ranking the candidates for routing the call.

In general, an indicator used to rank the candidates may be a functionof a number of parameters, such as the bid for the advertisement, theprojected waiting time, an indicator showing a degree of matching to oneor more user requirements (e.g., geographic area, service type, etc.),advertisement budget, and others.

In one embodiment, a communication reference, such as a phone numberwith or without an extension, a click-to-call reference, a SIP addressfor VoIP call, a click-to-reveal reference, etc., is embedded into anadvertisement to count the communication leads generated fromadvertisements, to track the contributions of demand partners whooperate media channels to present the advertisements to customers,and/or to track other aspects of advertising, such as partners who bringthe advertisers/sellers to the system.

In one embodiment, the tracking mechanism used for a particular versionof a particular advertisement is selected from a number of availablemechanisms, based on one or more considerations such as the volume orfrequency of calls generated from the advertisement, the conversion rateof the advertisement (e.g., the ratio between a count of presentationsof the advertisement and a count of communication leads generated fromthe presentations), the price per communication lead that the advertiseris will to pay for the advertisement according to a price bid specifiedby the advertiser, a potential revenue for a particular party in theadvertising activity, a classification or category of the advertisement(e.g., the category of service or product advertised in theadvertisement), a geographical area served by the advertisement, thedemand partner who is going to present the advertisement (e.g., thesuccess rate of the demand partner in reaching viable customers incomparison with other demand partners), etc.

In one embodiment, based on such considerations, tracking mechanisms areselected for the tracking of particular versions of particularadvertisements to improve the cost effectiveness of the system inadvertising.

In one embodiment, a communication reference that is specific to aselected tracking mechanism is allocated or selected or generated for aparticular advertisement. The communication reference is embedded intothe advertisement to generate a particular version of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the tracking mechanism is selected at a time when theparticular version of the advertisement is needed for presentation(e.g., when the version of the advertisement is to be delivered to ademand partner, or to a web browser of a customer). The correspondingcommunication reference is allocated or selected or generated when thetracking mechanism is selected.

In one embodiment, the selected tracking mechanism can be dynamicallychanged at a time when the particular version of the advertisement isneeded for presentation (e.g., when the version of the advertisement isto be delivered to a demand partner, or to a web browser of a customer).For example, the tracking mechanism used in an advertisement that is tobe presented via a particular demand partner can be upgraded ordowngraded based on the statistical data collected from the pastactivities related to the advertisement.

FIGS. 26-30 illustrate examples of telephone call tracking mechanismswhich can be selected according to some embodiments.

In FIG. 26, a phone number (2607) without an extension is assigned forthe generation a particular version (2613) of an advertisement (2609).In the database (2601), the assigned phone number (2607) is associatedwith the media channel (2603) and the advertiser's phone number (2605)(and/or other parameters to be tracked). Thus, the parameters to betracked can be identified based at least partially on the assigned phonenumber (2607). The particular version (2613) of the advertisement (2609)that has the assigned phone number (2607) is provided to the customer(2617) via the media channel (2615). The advertisement may instruct orsuggest the customer to call the assigned phone number (2607) to reachthe advertiser. In response to the advertisement, the customer may callthe assigned phone number (2607). When the connection provider/tracker(2621) is called at the assigned phone number via the telephone carrier(2619), the connection provider/tracker (2621) can identify the assignedphone number (e.g., via a Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS))and determine the advertiser's phone number (2605) based at leastpartially on the assigned phone number (2607). Further, using theassigned phone number, it can also be determined that the phone callfrom the customer is a response to an advertisement that is deliveredvia the media channel (2615) based on the association between theassigned phone number (2607) and the media channel (2603) in thedatabase (2601).

In one embodiment, after determining the advertiser's phone number fromthe assigned phone number that is dialed by the customer (2617), theconnection provider/tracker (2621) makes a separate call to theadvertiser (2625) via a telephone carrier (2623) which may be the sameas the telephone carrier (2619). When both the customer (2617) and theadvertiser (2625) are on the line with the connection provider/tracker(2621), the connection provider/tracker (2621) can bridge or conferencethe calls to connect the customer (2617) and the advertiser (2625).Alternatively, the connection provider/tracker (2621) may forward thecalls from the customer (2617) to the advertiser (2625) afterdetermining the advertiser's phone number.

In one embodiment, the assigned phone number can be a phone number thatis local to the area to be served by the advertisement. Alternatively,the assigned phone number can be a toll free phone number, such as an800-(888-, 877, or 866-) number. In one embodiment, the assigned phonenumber is a vanity number that spells one or more words on a dial pad ona phone, such as 1-800-PLUMBER for the advertisement of a plumber.Alternatively, the assigned phone number can be a plain phone number.

It is recognized that a local phone number is easy to dial manually, avanity number is easy to remember, and an 800-number is easier toremember than other toll free numbers. Thus, there are different valuesin advertising in the different types of assigned phone numbers.

Since maintaining different phone numbers may increase the trackingcost, another type of tracking mechanism that uses different extensionsto differentiate tracked parameters is illustrated in FIG. 27.

In FIG. 27, a phone number (2707) with an extension is assigned togenerate a particular version (2713) of an advertisement (2709). In thedatabase (2701), the assigned phone number (2707) with the extension isassociated with the media channel (2703) and the advertiser's phonenumber (2705) (and/or other parameters to be tracked). For example,different root phone numbers can be used to represent different mediachannels; and different extensions can be used to represent differentadvertisers. In another example, different root phone numbers are usedto represent different advertisers; and different extensions are used torepresent different media channels. In another example, the entireassigned phone number, including the root phone number and theextension, is used as a key to look up the media channel and theadvertiser's phone number. In a further example, the root phone numbersare not used to differentiate tracked parameters; and the trackedparameters are represented by the extensions, which may be implementedas keys to look up the parameters or as encoded/encrypted version of theparameters.

The particular version (2713) of the advertisement (2709) that has theassigned phone number (2707) with the extension is provided to thecustomer (2717) via the media channel (2715). In response to theadvertisement, the customer may call the assigned phone number (2707).In one embodiment, the connection provider/tracker (2721) is called atthe root number of the assigned phone number via the telephone carrier(2719). Once the customer is connected to the connectionprovider/tracker (2721), the customer can further provide the extensionto the connection provider/tracker (2721). For example, the customer(2717) can provide the extension to an IVR system or a human operator ofthe connection provider/tracker (2721). The extension can be provided asvoice input, or as dial pad input.

In one embodiment, the IVR system or the human operator (2723) canprompt the customer (2717) for the extension that is provided in theadvertisement. In one example, when the dialed root number is sufficientto identify information about the media channel, the IVR system or thehuman operator (2723) may customize the prompt to include theinformation of the media channel and ask the customer (2717) to furtherprovide the extension to reach the desired advertiser (2727). In anotherexample, when the dialed root number is sufficient to identifyinformation about the advertiser, the IVR system or the human operator(2723) may customize the prompt to include the information of theadvertiser and ask the customer (2717) to further provide the extensionto reach the desired advertiser (2727).

In one embodiment, based on the assigned phone number with theextension, the connection provider/tracker (2721) associates the callwith the corresponding parameters stored in the database (2701),including the advertiser's phone number, and connect the customer (2717)to the advertiser (2727). The connection provider/tracker (2721) cancall the advertiser (2727) at the advertiser's phone number via thetelephone carrier (2725) which may or may not be the same as thetelephone carrier (2719).

In one embodiment, the extension can be a plain extension or a vanityextension that spells one or more words on a dial pad on a phone, suchas extension PLUMBER for the advertisement of a plumber. In oneembodiment, extensions used in the system can have different lengths. Ashorter extension is easy to dial; and a vanity extension is easy toremember. In one embodiment, the extension includes an encoded/encryptedversion of the associated parameter to allow an authorized data systemto decode/decrypt at least some of the parameters without having toquery the database (2701). Thus, different types of extensions can havedifferent values in advertising.

The tracking methods described can have different costs. A toll-freenumber with many extensions, for instance, is much cheaper than manyvanity toll-free numbers. Therefore, the system uses the more expensivemethods when it's worthwhile to do so. For instance, if an advertisementreceives many calls, it may be selected for a more expensive method oftracking An advertisement with an extension may in the future beupgraded to a local phone number without an extension, or even a vanitytoll-free number. Similarly, an advertisement may qualify for a moreexpensive method of tracking if its conversion rate is high (e.g., if ithas a high ratio of the number of calls it receives to the number oftimes it is displayed). Conversely, advertisements that perform poorlymay be downgraded in tracking methods used. For example, anadvertisement tracked by a toll-free number may be downgraded to have aless expensive, click-to-call connection mechanism.

In one embodiment, when the advertiser (2725) is currently not availableto take the call at the time the customer (2717) calls, the customer(2717) is provided with the option to be called back within a timewindow, if the customer (2717) is willing to provide a phone number atwhich the customer (2717) can be reached. The system can then schedulethe callback to connect the customer (2717) and the advertiser (2727)accordingly.

In one embodiment, the connection provider/tracker calls the customerinstead of providing a phone number to receive a phone call from thecustomer, as illustrated in FIG. 28. In FIG. 28, a reference (2807) isassigned for the generation a particular version (2813) of anadvertisement (2809). In the database (2801), the assigned reference(2807) is associated with the media channel (2803) and the advertiser'sphone number (2805) (and/or other parameters to be tracked). In oneembodiment, the reference (2807) cannot be used to make a call via atraditional telephone carrier. In one embodiment, the reference (2807)is a key used in the database (2801) to look up the associatedparameters, such as the media channel (2803) and the advertiser's phonenumber (2805). In one embodiment, the reference (2807) is anencoded/encrypted version of the associated parameters, such that anauthorized data system (e.g., server 2823) can decode/decrypt theinformation without having to look up from the database.

In FIG. 28, the particular version (2813) of the advertisement (2809)that has the assigned reference (2807) is provided to the customer(2817) via the media channel (2815). In response to the advertisement,the customer may use the assigned reference (2807) to request aconnection with the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the reference (2807) is embedded in the advertisementas a parameter of a link or a parameter of a button, which when selectedby the customer (2817) causes the server (2823) to provide a prompt toask for a telephone number at which the customer can be reached.Alternatively, the advertisement may include a form to accept collectthe callback phone number, which is transmitted to the server with theparameter when the link or button is selected. The server (2823) usesthe reference (2807) received from the customer (2817) to identify theparameters that are associated with the particular version (2813) of theadvertisement (2809). Alternatively, the customer may request theconnection via a web page, an email, an instant message, a phone call toa gateway system, an SMS message, etc.

In FIG. 28, after the server (2823) determines the advertiser's phonenumber from the assigned reference and receives the customer's phonenumber, the connection provider/tracker (2819) makes separate calls tothe customer's phone number and the advertiser's phone number andbridges/conferences the calls to connect the customer (2817) and theadvertiser (2821).

In one embodiment, a telephone number assigned to a version of anadvertisement includes a SIP address for the initiation of a VoIP-basedtelephone call, as illustrated in FIG. 29. In one embodiment, theassigned SIP address (2907) is used as a key in the database (2901) tolook up the associated parameters, such as media channel (2903), theadvertiser's phone number (2905), etc. In one embodiment, the assignedSIP address (2907) includes an encoded/encrypted version of at leastsome of the associated parameters such that an authorized data systemcan decode/decrypt the information without having to query the database(2901).

In FIG. 29, the assigned SIP address (2911) is embedded into theadvertisement (2909) to generate a version (2913) for the media channel(2915), which delivers the advertisement to the customer (2917) (e.g.,via an audio channel, a visual channel, a data channel, or a multi-mediachannel). In response to the advertisement, the customer can call theconnection provider/tracker (2919) at the SIP address (e.g., using aVoIP application/phone). Based on the SIP address used in initiating theVoIP call, the advertiser's phone number is determined. The connectionprovider/tracker (2919) then connections the customer (2917) and theadvertiser (2921).

In one embodiment, when the customer (2917) is already in a phoneconnection with the media channel (2915), such as when the media channel(2915) is a telephone based directory service, the media channel (2915)may forward the call to the assigned IP address. Alternatively, themedia channel (2915) may conference/bridge the customer's call with acall to the connection provider/tracker (2919) at the assigned SIPaddress. Such an arrangement of having the media channel to connect theexisting call to the connection provider/tracker (2919) (e.g., throughforwarding or conferencing) can also be used in connection with othertypes of tracking mechanisms (e.g., tracking using a phone number, withor without an extension).

In one embodiment, the allocation of a telephone number to anadvertisement is deferred to a stage when a customer is interested inthe advertisement and ready to make a phone call, as illustrated in FIG.30. In FIG. 30, an assigned reference (3007) is used to represent theset of parameters of a version of an advertisement, such as the mediachannel (3003), advertiser's phone number (3005), etc. The reference canbe used as a key to look up the parameters in the database (3001),and/or decoded/decrypted to obtain at least some of the parameterswithout having to query the database (3001). The assigned reference(3007) is embedded in the version (3015) of the advertisement (3011) fordistribution by the medial channel (3017).

In FIG. 30, the advertisement is presented in a way to allow thecustomer (3019) to request an assigned phone number for the version ofthe advertisement. The assigned phone number may be a phone numberwithout an extension, or a phone number with an extension, or a SIPaddress. If the customer is not interested in the advertisement, thecustomer may not request the assigned phone number.

In one embodiment, the reference is implemented as a parameter of a linkor a button. When the button or the link is selected by the customer,the server (3023) receives the request together with the reference fromthe customer; and the server (3023) causes a phone number (3009) to beassociated with the set of parameters of the version (3015) of theadvertisement (3011). The server (3023) then provides the assigned phonenumber to the customer.

For example, when the button is clicked, the web page showing theversion of the advertisement may submit the reference to the server toobtain the assigned phone number and display the assigned phone number(e.g., in a pop up window, on a separate layer of the web page, or in amodified element of the web page). In one embodiment, the phone numberis displayed in the current web page without reloading or refreshing theweb page or loading a separate web page. In one embodiment, the customer(3019) can request for the assigned phone number via a web page, anemail, an instant message, an SMS message, a phone call, a voice mail,etc.

After the customer (3019) obtains the assigned phone number, thecustomer (3019) can call the connection provider/tracker (3021) at theassigned phone number (3009), based on which the connectionprovider/tracker (3021) can further connect the customer (3019) to theadvertiser (3025).

In one embodiment, a version of an advertisement can have multipleassigned references corresponding to different types of trackingmechanisms. For example, a version of an advertisement may include a SIPaddress, a reference to arrange a callback and a reference to request anassigned phone number.

The SIP address may be presented in a click-to-call format via a VoIPapplication. When the customer has a VoIP application readily available,the customer may choose to make the phone call via the SIP addresswithout requesting for a traditional telephone number.

The reference to arrange a callback can be implemented as a link or abutton labeled as “Request a phone connection through calling me back”.In one embodiment, a form to take the callback number is presented withthe link or button. Alternatively, when the link or the button isselected, a further web page is displayed to guide the customer throughthe process of connecting the customer to the advertiser through callingback the customer.

The reference to request an assigned phone number can be implemented asa link or a button labeled as “Show me a phone number”, which whenselected, causes a phone number to be assigned to the version of theadvertisement. After a phone number is assigned to the version of theadvertisement, the advertisement can be subsequently displayed with theassigned phone number without showing the reference to request anassigned phone number.

Alternatively, when the “Show me a phone number” link or button isselected, the complete phone number of the advertiser can be shown toallow the customer to call the advertiser directly. In such animplementation, the number of times that the advertiser's phone numberis clicked to reveal can be used as a performance indicator, based onwhich the advertisement is charged for.

In one embodiment, after a period of time of serving the advertisement,statistical data related to consumer responses to the advertisement canbe collected and used to adjust the tracking mechanisms for theadvertisement. For example, if it is determined that the majority of thephone calls in response to the advertisement is via the SIP address,other tracking mechanisms may be de-allocated from the advertisement, orre-allocated for a different advertisement. Alternatively, the referencemay be phased out from the advertisement while the reference isallocated to a different advertisement.

For instance, if an advertisement has a high call volume (e.g., receivesmany calls), it may be upgraded for a more expensive method of tracking.An advertisement with an extension may be upgraded to a local phonenumber without an extension, or even a vanity toll-free number, if theperformance of the advertisement is above a threshold (e.g., when itsconversion rate or call volume is high). Conversely, advertisements thatperform poorly may be downgraded in tracking methods used. For example,an advertisement tracked by a toll-free number without an extension maybe downgraded to have a number with an extension, a click-to-callconnection mechanism.

The tracking mechanism of an advertisement can be determined not only bythe performance of an advertisement, but also by the quality of thedemand partner or the quality of the customer viewing the advertisement.For example, one advertisement may use an expensive tracking mechanismon one demand partner but may be assigned a different, inexpensivetracking mechanism on a second demand partner who tends to have lowerquality customers (e.g., customers who response less frequently toadvertisements). The quality of a demand partner may be reflected uponon the difference in the conversion rate of a same advertisementpresented via different demand partners, in the numbers of the potentialcustomers the demand partners can reach, the quality of the customers ofthe demand partners, etc. In another embodiment, the tracking mechanismis directly determined by the quality of the customer himself/herself.If, for instance, information can be collected about the customerinteracting with the advertisements; if the customer is a frequentbuyer, an expensive tracking mechanism can be used for the customer. Thequality of a customer may also reflected upon the preferences of thecustomer, the spending habit of the customer, the response rate of thecustomer to advertisements, the need of the customer, etc. In this case,different customers of different buying tendencies may see theadvertisement using different tracking mechanisms at the same demandpartners.

In one embodiment, the likelihood of an advertisement being called isestimated based on the type of media channels used to present theadvertisement, the demand partner responsible to deliver theadvertisement, and/or the customer who views the advertisement. Anycharacteristics in advertising that have an impact on the likelihood ofan advertisement being called and thus the expected revenue/profitgenerated from the presentation of the advertisement can be used inselecting a tracking mechanism for the particular instance of theadvertisement.

In one example, if it is determined that the number of communicationleads generated from the assigned phone number is lower than athreshold, the assigned phone number may be reallocated to anotheradvertisement. If the number of communication leads generated from theadvertisement is higher than a threshold, the tracking mechanism usedfor the advertisement may be promoted to a phone number with a short orvanity extension, a phone number without an extension, a vanity phonenumber, a toll free phone number, a vanity toll free number, a localphone number, or a vanity local phone number. If the number ofcommunication leads generated from the advertisement is lower than athreshold, the tracking mechanism may be downgraded, freeing up trackingresources for other advertisements.

In one example, when advertisements are provided to a demand partnerthat has a lower success rate in reaching viable customers than otherdemand partners, this demand partner may be represented using a longextension, leaving short extensions for other demand partners.Alternatively, the advertisements for presentation by the demand partnermay be tracked using references for callback or SIP addresses.

In one example, the system may promote the advertisement activities inone geographic area; and the advertisements served in that geographicarea receive upgrades in tracking mechanism.

In one example, the advertisements in certain categories of products andservices use upgraded tracking mechanisms.

In one embodiment, the advertisements with a pay per communication leadprice bid higher than a threshold receives an upgrade in trackingmechanism.

In one embodiment, the system determines weighting factors in varioustypes of communication references (e.g., in terms of cost and benefit inpromoting the advertisement), the success rate of the advertisement invarious communication channel/demand partner, and the price bids of theadvertisers. Based on the collected information, the system can selecttracking mechanisms to optimize the potential revenue that can begenerated from advertising. In one embodiment, the potential revenueincludes the advertisement revenue and/or other revenue that can begenerated from the advertisement. For example, when the system takes acommission from the transaction resulted from the advertisement, thepotential revenue can include the expected commission from thepresentation of the advertisement; and in such a case the system mayfurther use the statistical data related to the successful rate of acall converting into a transaction, an average value of a transaction,the possibility of a repeated call, the average value of a repeatedcall, etc., in the determination of the potential revenue. In oneembodiment, advertisements may qualify for better tracking mechanismswhen their pay-per-call bid price reaches a certain value. Similarly,advertisements may qualify for better tracking mechanisms when theiroverall value reaches a certain threshold. Their overall value can be afunction of their bid price, ordinal position, conversion rate, demandsource, customer quality, etc.

FIG. 31 shows a diagram illustrating a method to select a type oftracking mechanism with a corresponding reference for embedding in anadvertisement according to one embodiment. In FIG. 31, multiple types oftracking mechanisms are used in the system. The tracking mechanism usedfor an advertisement or a version of the advertisement can bedynamically selected and changed. For example, different versions of anadvertisement can be generated for delivery by different demandpartners.

In FIG. 31, a pool of different types of references (3101) aremaintained, such as local phone numbers (3111), 800-numbers (3113),888-numbers (3115), 877-numbers (3117), 866-numbers (3119). Some of thereferences can be dynamically generated and used, such as extensions(3121), SIP addresses (3123), click-to-assign references (3125) andclick-to-callback references (3127). In one embodiment, one or more ofthe references are selected and used as the assigned reference (3123)that is embedded in the advertisement (3121). In one embodiment, theassignment is based at least partially on factors related to theadvertisement, such as call volume, conversion rate, revenue potential,category, geography, demand partner, etc.

In one embodiment, the reference of a particular type is selected andassigned to the advertisement when the advertisement is being requestedfor delivery. When the advertisement is subsequently requested, thepreviously assigned reference can be used. Alternatively, when theadvertisement is subsequently requested, a different reference of are-selected type can be selected and assigned to the advertisement,based on the considerations such as the call volume in a past timeperiod, conversion rate, price bid, etc. After the new reference isassigned to the advertisement, the previous reference can be assigned toa different advertisement.

In one embodiment, before the expiration of the previously assignedreference for an advertisement delivered by a demand partner, a newreference can be assigned to the advertisement for delivery by the samedemand partner. Thus, multiple references can be associated with a sameset of parameters in a time period. Further, since some of thereferences can be re-assigned to a different advertisement, onereference may be associated with multiple sets of parameters (e.g., fordifferent advertisements). In one embodiment, when a reference isassociated multiple sets of parameters, the parameter set that is mostrecently assigned to and associated with an advertisement has thehighest priority; and when the reference is used to request acommunication connection with an advertiser, the customer can beprompted to confirm the set of parameters (directly or indirectly)before the set of parameters are used to connect the customer to theadvertiser.

FIG. 32 shows a flow diagram of a method to provide an advertisementaccording to one embodiment. In FIG. 32, a tracking mechanism isselected (3201) from a plurality of tracking mechanism to countcommunication leads generated from an advertisement. In one embodiment,the communication leads generated from the advertisement are used tomeasure the performance of the advertisement; and the advertisement ispaid based on the performance of the advertisement. For example, theadvertisement may be charged based on the number of communication leadsgenerated by the advertisement; and the price per communication lead canbe specified by the advertiser. Alternatively, other measurements basedon counting the communication leads generated from the advertisementscan also be used.

In FIG. 32, a reference is determined (3203) according to the selectedtracking mechanism. For example, if the selected tracking mechanism usesa toll free telephone number without an extension, a toll free telephonenumber is selected from a pool of toll free telephone numbers for theadvertisement. Data indicating the association between the toll freetelephone number and the particular version of the advertisement isstored. For example, if the selected tracking mechanism using atelephone number with an extension, an extension is selected such thatthe phone number and the extension as a whole can be used to identifythe particular version of the advertisement, which may include a numberof parameters to be tracked, such as the demand partner responsible todeliver the advertisement to the customer, a media channel used by thedemand partner to deliver the advertisement to the customer, theadvertiser's phone number, a partner who is responsible for getting theadvertiser/advertisement, etc.

In FIG. 32, the reference is embedded (3205) in the advertisement forpresentation. References for different tracking mechanisms may bepresented differently. For example, an assigned phone number may bedisplayed or read out to the customer; a SIP address may be presented asa button for VoIP call; and a reference to request a callback may bepresented as an icon or a link, etc.

FIG. 33 illustrates an example of displaying advertisement listings in abanner according to one embodiment. In FIG. 33, a banner advertisement(3303) is displayed within a web page (3301). The web page (3301) may berendered for display from one or more files, one of which may be a mainfile in a markup language (e.g., HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or anEXtensible Markup Language (XML)) or in other formats such as a customdesigned format. The main file may contain references to other filessuch that when the main file is rendered in a browser, the one or morefiles are processed to generate the display of the web page (3301).

The banner advertisement (3303) includes one or more listings. Each ofthe listings contains one or more references for requesting a two-wayreal-time communication connection with the corresponding advertiser,such as a telephone number that can be called to reach the advertiser(e.g., through a connection system), or a call button which can beselected to request a VoIP call to the advertiser. The telephone numbermay or may not include an extension. The telephone number may include avanity number which spells a word or phrase on the phone keypad. Therequest may be made through initiating the real-time communicationconnection from the user of the web page (3301) to a connection systemusing the reference, or through sending a message to the connectionsystem which can initiate the real-time communication connections to theuser of the web page (3301) and the advertiser selected by the user andjoin the connections to connect the user and the advertiser.Alternatively, or in combination, the listings can contain links whichwhen selected (e.g., clicked) reveal the contact information of theadvertisers, such as the telephone numbers of the advertisers and/oraddress information (e.g., email address, instant messaging user ID). Inone embodiment, when the contact information is revealed throughdynamically modifying the web page that contains the listing.Alternatively, a new web page, or a popup window, or a layer over theexisting web page can be displayed to show the contact information. Inone embodiment, the listings include links which when selected (e.g.,clicked) cause the system to initiate a VoIP call to the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the two-way real-time communication connection can bemade through a monitoring/tracking system to determine the number oftwo-way real-time communication connections established based on thebanner and/or determine the time period of the real-time communicationbetween the user and the advertiser.

The advertiser may sell products or services. For example, theadvertiser may provide services, such as advice, information,entertainment and/or amusement, over the real-time communicationconnection, which may be a telephonic connection, an instant messagingconnection, a video conferencing connection, a text chat connection, acommon white-boarding connection, etc.

In one embodiment, the banner advertisement (3303) may include multiplelistings. At a given time, a portion of multiple listings is displayed.The listings are animated or rotated to show the multiple listings overa period of time.

In one embodiment, at least a portion of banner advertisement can beselected by the user to request a telephonic connection via a VoIPsystem. The telephonic connection may be initiated from a VoIP clientapplication running on a computer on which the web page (3301) isrendered and displayed. Alternatively, the request may be sent to aserver remote to the computer which renders and displays the web page(3301); and the server then initiates the telephonic connection.

In one embodiment, the user may manually dial the phone number (e.g.,3307) displayed in the banner to request the telephone connection. Aserver at the phone number (e.g., 3307) can receive the phone call anddetermine the corresponding advertiser (e.g., based on the phone numberdialed by the caller to reach the server and/or an extension dialedafter the server picks up the call) and connect the telephone call tothe advertiser. In one embodiment, the advertisement is presented onbehalf of more than one advertiser (or an advertiser that has differentoffices, branches, extensions, etc.). When the phone call is received asa result of the advertisement, a live operator or an IVR system caninteract with the caller to route the call to a selected one of theadvertisers (or a selected office, branch, or extension of theadvertiser). Alternatively, the system may make the selectionautomatically based on considerations such as the availability of theadvertisers, the current bids of the advertisers for phone leadsgenerated from the advertisement, the geographical locations of thecaller and the advertisers, and/or one or more specificrequests/selection criteria received from the caller over the phone,etc.

Traditionally, banner advertisements are designed to direct the webtraffic to the web site of the advertiser, from the site that providesthe web page and/or the banner advertisements. The banner advertisementmay be paid based on impression or click through. An impression of thebanner advertisement occurs when the banner advertisement is loaded fromthe web site into a web browser for display. A click through of thebanner advertisement occurs when the user of the web browser selects thebanner to cause the web browser to load the web page of the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the banner is designed be selected to “call through”to the advertiser, instead of “click through” to the web site of theadvertiser. For example, in FIG. 33, when the icon (3305) is clicked, atelephone call may be initiated to the advertiser. The click may leadthe web browser to load the web page of a service agent which providesthe services of connecting the advertiser and the user for real-timecommunication and tracking the real-time communication connections. Forexample, the web site of the service agent may provide detailedinformation on how to go through the process of connecting to theadvertiser. The web page of the service agent may provide services toschedule/arrange the call when the advertiser is currently available forthe real-time communication or will be available for the real-timecommunication in a period of time. When the advertise is not availablefor the real-time communication with the user for a longer period oftime, the web site of the service agent may present an option toschedule an appointment with the advertiser for the user. The web pageof the service agent may request a communication reference to call backto the user of the web page (3301) and/or a time period within which theuser would be available for the real-time communication.

Alternatively, the selection of the icon (e.g., 3305) may cause the webbrowser to initiate a telephonic call (e.g., through loading a VoIPmodule such as a plug-in to the web browser, or a VoIP helperapplication which is an application separate from the web browser andwhich can make a VoIP based phone call based on parameters passed fromthe web browser).

The banner advertisement (3303) can may be rendered from one or morecomponents, such as an image (e.g., in a GIF or JPEG format), aJavaScript program and/or a multimedia object with a scripting languagesuch as Java, or a file/data for other application modules such,Shockwave or Flash. These components may be in separate files or in onefile.

The banner advertisement (3303) may animate one or more listings and/orprovide sound to improve user experiences. The banner advertisement(3303) may include the indication of the current availability status ofthe advertiser to perform the real-time communication (e.g., using theicon (3305)). The banner advertisement (3303) may further include abrief description of the advertiser and/or other information about theadvertiser, such as the qualification as an advisor in a field, aquality rating based on prior customer feedback, language capability,etc.

In one embodiment, the layout of at least a portion of the listingpresented in the banner is designed and provided by the advertiser.Alternatively, the advertiser may provide a portion of the content; andthe listing is automatically formatted to include the content providedby the advertiser.

The banner may be wide and short, suitable for being placed on the top(or bottom) of the web page (or a section of the web page). The bannermay be tall and narrow, suitable for being placed on the side (e.g.,left or right) of the web page (or a section of the web page). A bannermay also be so big that it takes up most of the page. In general, abanner can be generated for presentation in any size and shape. In oneembodiment, a banner has a dynamically changeable size. For example, abanner shows an initial set of listings with a link or button. When thelink or button is selected, the banner shows additional listings bydynamically changing the banner in the web page, without reloading aseparate web page or refreshing the entire web page; and the size of thebanner is dynamically changed to accommodate the additional listings.Alternatively, the banner may have a fixed size; and the additionallistings replace the previously displayed listings. Alternatively, morelistings may be displayed in a separate banner, or in a separate webpage, or in a popup window, or in a layer over the current web page,when the link or button is selected for more listings. The additionallistings may be pre-fetched from the web site together with the webpage. Alternatively, the additional listings may be obtained from theweb site in response to the selection of the link or button (e.g., afterthe display of the web page).

The one or more listings presented in the banner may be selecteddynamically from a database of listings, based on the content of the webpage so that the listings may be of interest to a typical reader of theweb page. Further, the selection of listings for inclusion in the bannermay be based on the prices specified by the advertisers. The prices maybe charged by the advertiser to the caller when the caller calls theadvertiser for advice, for information, or for entertainment (e.g., on aper minute basis). The prices may be charged to the advertiser for theadvertisements based on the number of calls the advertisers receive fromthe advertisements (e.g., on a per call basis). In one embodiment, abanner has dynamic content based on the page in which the banner islocated. For example, the content of the banner in a web page can bedetermined dynamically based on one or more search parameters presentedin a search box of the web page. For example, Bob's Plumbing site canhave a search box which allows a customer to search for plumbingresources in Boston, Mass. The search results on the page may have manyresources on plumbing in Boston, Mass.; and the banner can dynamicallypresent advertisers in Plumbing for Boston based on the searchparameters. The banner may also provide advertisements for service,information or entertainment in Boston, Mass. Alternatively, the webpage owner can select to have banners display certain types of listingswhen setting up the banner advertisement relationship with anadvertisement agency, who provides the content of the banners. Forexample, Joe's Seattle Electrician Help Site can choose to have staticbanners of electricians in Seattle from the list of advertisers of theadvertisement agency, or dynamic banners of electricians that areselected randomly (or selected based on a set of rules). In oneembodiment, the banner can determine the content of the web page inwhich the banner is located (e.g., through analyzing the HTML documentof the web page) and select advertisements based on the content of theweb page. In one embodiment, a banner may utilize data storage mechanismin the web browser (e.g., cookies) to collect information about theidentity of the user of the web browser and/or the preference of theuser to customize the selection of advertisements for the user. In oneembodiment, statistical data related to the presentation ofadvertisements to the user and the user interaction with advertisementsis collected (e.g., using the information that identifies the user);based on the statistical data the preference of the user can beidentified, which can be used in selecting advertisements of interest tothe user.

In one embodiment, a service agent can provide the services of arrangingadvertisements (e.g., service listings, product listings, advertisementsfor services, products, entities, individuals, etc.) on one or moremedia channel for advertisers. The service agent purchases/pays forbanner advertisement placements from operators of media channels, suchas search engine operators, or operators of frequently visited web sites(e.g., such as newspaper or entertainment sites). The service agent maypay for the placements of banner advertisement on the media channels,based on a conventional scheme, such as based on the number ofimpressions of banner advertisements or based on the number of clickthrough from the banner advertisements (e.g., click through to the siteof the service agent to initiate the communication connection betweenthe user and the advertiser). The service agent can use the placementsof banner advertisements to present advertisement listings for which theadvertisers (e.g., sellers or advisors) pay based on the establishmentof real-time communication connections, such as the telephoneconnections.

For example, the service agent may present the pay per calladvertisement listings for one or more advertisers in a banneradvertisement at a web site. The service agent pays the operator of theweb site for the banner advertisement on a per impression basis or on aper click through basis. The service agent charges the one or moreadvertisers for the advertisement listings based on the number oftelephone calls generated from advertising on behalf of them.

Alternatively, or in combination, the service agent may pay theoperators of the media channels a percentage of the advertisement feescollected from the advertisers for the placements of the banneradvertisements in the media channels. The service agent may track theestablishment of telephone calls to determine the media channels who areresponsible for presenting the banner advertisements that result in thetelephone calls to the advertisers. The service agent may determine thenumber of telephone calls generated from the banner advertisements onthe respective media channels and to compensate the operators of themedia channels according to the number of telephone calls initiated fromthe banner advertisements presented by the respective media channels.Alternatively, or in combination, the service agent may pay the mediaoperators a pre-determined fee (e.g., a monthly fee) for the placementsof the banner advertisements. Alternatively, or in combination, theservice agent may pay the media operators according to a price bidspecified by service agent for click through or for impression. Theprice bid may not be proportional to any pay per call price bids by theadvertisers. The service agent may determine a price bid based onstatistic data to improve profits.

In another example, the service agent may use the banner advertisementsin the media channels to present the listings for providers who provideservices (e.g., advice, information, entertainment) over real-timecommunication connections, such as telephone connections, instantmessaging connections, video conferencing connections, text and/or voicechatting connections, common white-boarding connections, etc. Theconnections may be used to provide live voice communications, live videocommunications, live text communications, or recorded communications,such as video/audio clips, television programs, or a combination ofthese. The service agent may determine the duration of the real-timecommunications. The customers who request the real-time communicationconnections with the information/service providers can be charged basedat least on the duration of the real-time communications and/or prices(rates) specified by the information/service providers. The prices(rates) specified by the information/service providers may be presentedas part of the advertisement listings or provided when the user clicksthrough the banner, or when the user starts the real-time communicationconnection using the reference provided in the banner (e.g., by callingthe phone number presented in the listing).

The banner advertisement may statically show one or more listings in thebanner. The banner advertisement may rotate multiple listings in thebanner periodically so that the banner can display more listings over aperiod of time than that can be display at a given time instance withinthe display area of the banner advertisement. The banner may furtherinteract with the user to selectively display one from multiplelistings.

FIG. 34 shows a method to present advertisements according to oneembodiment. In FIG. 34, after a request for a web page is received(3401), a banner advertisement to be included in the web page isdetermined (3403). The web page may be in a HyperText Markup Language(HTML) format, with or without references to one or more componentswhich can be in other formats, such as graphics, scripting code, datafor application modules or external applications, etc. The web page maybe in other markup languages, such as an EXtensible Markup Language(XML) format. The web page may be provided to a browser through aHyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server or other types of servers,such as a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, a Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP) server, etc.

Operation 3405 generates content of the banner advertisement to includecontact reference information for one or more advertisement listings,containing information usable to request telephonic connections to oneor more advertisers of the one or more advertisement listings.

The banner advertisement with the generated content is included (3407)in the web page. The banner advertisement with the generated content maybe provided partially or entirely in an HTML format in the main file ofthe web page. The banner advertisement with the generated content may bepartially provided in a file separate from the main file of the webpage, which contains a reference to the separate file such that when theweb page is downloaded, the separate file is also downloaded as part ofthe web page that is rendered as one page in the browser. When the viewport of the browser is sufficiently large, the entire page can bedisplayed. When the view port of the browser is not sufficiently large,a portion of the entire page is displayed; and the view port can beadjust to show any portion of the page. The web page including thebanner advertisement is provided (3409) as a response to the request.

Operation 3411 monitors telephonic connections made to the one or moreadvertisers via the contact reference information. In one embodiment,the telephonic connections are made through a server which tracks thetelephone calls to determine one or more of: the number of phone callsto a particular advertiser that are generated from the advertisements,the number of phone calls to an advertiser that are generated frombanner advertisements presented by a particular media channel, thedurations of the phone calls, etc. The one or more advertisers for theone or more advertisement listings can be billed (3413) based ontelephonic connections made to the one or more advertisers via thecontact reference information, such as based on the number of callsand/or the duration of the calls.

FIG. 34 show an example of generating telephonic connections from banneradvertisements. Other types of communication connections, such as videoconferencing, instant messaging, common white-boarding, text/voicechatting, or a combination of different communication types, can begenerated in a similar way.

Advertisement listings designed to generate two-way real-timecommunication connections, not just links to the web sites of theadvertisers, can also be presented in other components of a web page,such as a table in a side area of a web page, or in a table on a top(bottom) area of a web page. Further, the advertisement may be partiallyor entirely hidden in the web page until an element of the web page isselected. For example, an icon, a button or a hyperlink may be includedin the web page; when the icon, button or hyperlink is selected (e.g.,through positioning a display of a cursor over it for a period of timeor activating a selection device while the cursor is displayed over it),the advertisement is displayed in a popup window (or the icon, button orhyperlink is expanded into a full version of the advertisement). Thepopup window of the advertisement may be dismissed after the cursor ismoved away from the icon. The expanded version of the advertisement maybe reversed back to a reduced version of the advertisement when thecursor is moved away from the advertisement. Alternatively, theadvertisement can be presented in a separate layer of the web page; whenthe cursor is on the icon, button, or hyperlink, the layer including theexpanded version of the advertisement is shown within the existingbrowser window; when the cursor is moved away from the advertisement,the expanded version of the advertisement is dismissed into the hiddenlayer. Alternatively, the layout of the current web page can bedynamically changed to show the expanded version of the advertisement.

Further, the expanded version of previously downloaded advertisementlistings may be displayed while the current web page is being downloadedto the web browser. A version of the advertisement listings may bepresented as floating over the web page (e.g., during the web page isbeing loaded and/or within a period of time after the web page is loadedand displayed).

FIGS. 35-38 shows further examples of displaying advertisement listingsaccording to some embodiments.

In FIG. 35, one or more advertisement listings can be provided in a toolbar (3503) of an application (3501), such as a browser, a contactmanager, a text/graphics/program editor, a spreadsheet program, etc. Thetool bar (3503) can be displayed (docked) horizontally near a top (orbottom) boundary of the application (or vertically near a left or rightboundary of the application).

The tool bar may also be displayed in a separate window (e.g., floatingover the main window of the application). The tool bar displayed in theseparated window can be moved to the boundary of the main window andthen be docked near the boundary of the main window of the application.

The tool bar (3503) can include an input area (3513) to receive one ormore search terms to search for advertisement listings (e.g., based onservice/product categories, geographic location, qualifications of theproviders, customer ratings of the providers, etc.) In one embodiment,the tool bar can access/retrieve/read the web page, or other informationin an application that is under the control of the tool bar, todetermine an advertisement that is relevant to the web page or thecurrent status of the application. For example, a tool bar on a windowof an instant messaging application can select advertisements based onthe instant messages that are received and displayed in the window. Forexample, a tool bar of an email application may display advertisementsbased on the current email that is being displayed.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 35, the tool bar (3503) includes anarea (3509) to display an icon (3509) which indicates the currentavailability of advertiser (e.g., a service/product provider) to talkover a telephonic connection. The icon (3509) can be selected throughpositioning a display of a cursor over the icon using a cursorpositioning device, such as a mouse, a touch pad or a joystick, andactivating a signaling device, such as a button of the mouse, the touchpad or joystick or a key on a keyboard or a predefined input event fromthe touch pad such as a tap or double-tap on the touch pad, while thecursor is displayed over the icon (3509). The icon (3509) may also beselected by pressing one or more keys of a keyboard (e.g., in apredetermined combination and/or sequence). When the icon (3509) isselected, the tool bar (3503) initiates a request for the telephoneconnection to the corresponding advertiser. The telephone connection maybe initiated from the computer/device that runs the application (3501)(e.g., through an embedded VoIP communication module, or a separate VoIPapplication).

Alternatively, the tool bar (3503) may cause the request to betransmitted to a connection system (e.g., a server remote from thecomputer/device that runs the application (3501)) which initiates thetelephone connection based on a reference to the advertisement list. Inresponse to the request, the connection system may further request atelephonic contact of the user of the application (3501), such as atelephone number of a landline phone or a cellular phone, or a useridentification of a VoIP system. Alternatively, the telephonic contactinformation may be stored (e.g., as a preference or configuration optionof the tool bar or the application) and transmitted to the connectionsystem with the request. Alternatively, the telephonic contactinformation may be pre-stored on a database accessible to the connectionsystem, which retrieves the contact information based on anidentification of the user of the application (3501).

In FIG. 35, the tool bar also displays the phone number (3511) assignedto the advertiser. In one embodiment, when the phone number (3511) iscalled, the call is connected to a connection system first. Theconnection system identifies the advertiser based on the phone numberdialed to reach the connection system and/or an extension dialed afterthe call reaches the connection system. The connection system thenfurther connects the call to the advertiser (e.g., through dialing aseparate call to the advertiser and joining the calls to connect thecaller to the advertiser or forwarding the call to the advertiser).

In FIG. 35, the tool bar provides an area (3515) to display anidentification of the advertiser, which may include one or more of: thename of the advertiser, a logo or icon or photo picture of theadvertiser, a short description, etc. When the cursor (3505) ispositioned over the area (3505) for a predetermined period of time(and/or selected through activating a signaling device), a popup window(3507) is shown to provide further details about the advertiser. Thepopup window may automatically disappear after a predetermined period ofdisplay, or be dismissed after the cursor (3505) leaves the area (3515)or be dismissed through selecting the popup window. Alternatively, alayer of advertisement, or advertisement information presented on top ofthe current web page or application can be presented without spawning anew window.

In FIG. 35, the tool bar (3503) further includes an element (3517) whichcan be selected to request the display of other advertisement listingsthat are retrieved as a result of the search.

In one embodiment, the tool bar (3503) may perform a searchautomatically based on the content that is currently loaded into theapplication (3501). The search may be performed in a background process(e.g., using the idle network connection when the CPU usage is low) suchthat the performance of the application (3501) is not affected. Theautomatic search allows the user to see advertisements listings that arein the similar area of the content currently displayed to the user ofthe application (3501).

In one embodiment, a tool bar may not be associated with a particularapplication. As illustrated in FIG. 36, a tool bar (3603) may be dockedto a boundary of the desktop (3601) of the graphical user interface. Thetool bar may be relocated to different part of the boundary of thedesktop (3601) or be moved to float over the desktop.

In one embodiment, a tool bar (3703) is provided in a VoIP application(3701). A user of the VoIP application can use the application toinitiate and/or receive telephone calls via a VoIP system, and thus, theVoIP application (3701) can be considered as a VoIP user terminal.

In one embodiment, the display of advertisement listings is provided ona telephone set (3801) which has data communication capability. Forexample, the telephone set (3801) may support VoIP; a user of thetelephone set (3801) can use it to initiate and/or receive telephonecalls via a VoIP system, and thus, the telephone set (3801) can beconsidered as a VoIP user terminal.

The telephone set (3801) has a display device (3803) which can be useddisplay an advertisement listing (3805). The advertisement listing(3805) may be displayed based on a search formed according to inputreceived at the telephone set (3801) through the key pad of thetelephone set. Alternatively, the search request may be provided to aremote system, via voice or via the key pad, over a telephonicconnection after dialing a phone number of the remote system. The searchresult obtained at the remote system is provided to the telephone set(3801) for display. Alternatively, the search may be formedautomatically on the telephone set (3801) based on one or more telephonenumbers dialed by the user; the search is formed to find providerssimilar to the phone numbers dialed. For example, the telephone set(3801) may submits the one or more telephone numbers dialed by the userto the remote system to search for advertisers who provide servicesand/or products in the same category of the callees of the telephonenumbers dialed. Thus, the user has the opportunity to dial theadvertisers of the listings (e.g., if the call to the dialed telephonenumbers is not answered, or the previous call does not provide resultsto the satisfaction of the user of the telephone set (3801)).

Further, the advertisement listings paid by advertisers according to theestablishment of real-time communication connections can also bepresented in other types of media channels, such as newspapers,magazines, displayed surfaces of items that have a surface designed tobe attached to another surface (such as refrigerator magnets, posters,or stickers), television programs (e.g., interactive TV, cable TV,satellite TV, or web TV), radio programs, billboards, etc. When themedia channel is not real-time or interactive, a reference for areal-time communication connection to a connection system (e.g., atelephone number, an internet address, VoIP ID, etc.) can be provided torequest the connection system to connect real-time communications to theadvertiser (e.g., through identifying the advertiser based on thereference used to connect to the connection system).

In one embodiment, presentation of listings/advertisements is optimizedbased on the value/revenue to supply affiliates, demand affiliates, orthe operator of the seller network, etc. Different types of channelsused to deliver the advertisements may have different impact on therevenue generated from advertising. Different categories ofadvertisements may have different success rates in converting impressionof advertisements into chargeable events to bring income. Further,individual performance-based advertisements may have differentconversion rates which represent the ratio between the number ofmeasurable events, which are generated from the advertisement andcharged for the advertisements, and the number of presentations of theadvertisements. Further, an advertisement may have different conversionrate on different media channels (e.g., text messaging, web, SMS, audio,video, newspaper, television, etc.) Further, in some embodiments, themeasurable events may lead to commercial transactions, for which theseller network, the supplier affiliates and/or the demand affiliates mayfurther charge service fees. Thus, in one embodiment, an indicator ofpotential revenue that is expected to be generated from presenting theadvertisements is computed from the prices for the advertisements, thestatistical data representing the performance of the advertisements,and/or the revenue sharing scheme of the seller network, etc. Theindicator of potential revenue can be used to improve or optimize thepresentation of advertisements.

FIG. 39 shows a seller network according to one embodiment. In FIG. 39,a seller network (3901) may have supply affiliates (3905) and demandaffiliates (3903). The supply affiliates (3905) provide advertisementsof the advertisers/sellers (3909) to the seller network (3901). Thedemand affiliates (3903) operate media channels to provide theadvertisements to the customers/buyers (3907). Some affiliates may beboth supply affiliates and demand affiliates. Supply affiliates earntheir shares of the advertisement revenue for bringing theadvertisers/sellers (3909) to the seller network (3901); and the demandaffiliates earn their shares of the advertisement revenue for bringingthe customers/buyers (3907) to the seller network (3901).

In one embodiment, at least some of the advertisers/sellers (3909) jointhe seller network (3901) directly; and at least some of thecustomers/buyers (3907) obtain the advertisements from the sellernetwork (3901) directly. An operator of the seller network (3901) earnsits shares of the advertisement revenue for maintaining the network, forpresenting the advertisements to the customers/buyers (3907) directly,or indirectly via the demand affiliates, and for getting theadvertisements from the advertisers/sellers (3909) directly, orindirectly via the supply affiliates.

In one embodiment, the advertisements are charged based on thecommunication leads generated from the advertisements. A connectionprovider/tracker (3911) tracks and/or connects the communication leadsto the corresponding advertisers/sellers. For example, theadvertisements may be charged based on telephone leads generated fromthe advertisements; and the connection provider/tracker (3911) tracksthe telephone calls from the customer to the advertiser throughconnecting the telephone calls to the advertiser for the customer. Theconnection provider/tracker (3911) may also charge a portion of thecommunication cost to the customer and/or the advertiser (e.g., when thecommunication time for a connection exceeds a predetermined period, theadvertiser may be charged for the remaining period of thecommunication).

In one embodiment, the connection provider/tracker and the operator ofthe seller network are the same entity. Alternatively, connectionprovider/tracker and the operator of the seller network can be differententities.

In one embodiment, the price for the advertisement is specified by theadvertiser/seller (3909). Alternatively, the price for the advertisementcan be specified by the seller network, or the demand affiliates, or thesupply affiliates, or the connection providers/tracker. In oneembodiment, the price of the advertisement is performance-based; and theadvertisers are charged based on measurable events of interest to theadvertisers, which events are generated as the result of theadvertisements. Alternatively, the advertisement fees may be based onthe presentation of the advertisement and/or the placement location ofthe advertisement.

In one embodiment, a demand affiliate may collect advertisement feesfrom the seller network based on events different from the events theseller network and/or the supplier affiliates charge the advertiser.

For example, a demand affiliate may collect an advertisement fee foreach presentation of an advertisement and/or a premium for placing theadvertisement at a specific location (e.g., on the top of a web page orlist), or the demand affiliate may collect an advertisement fee for eachuser selection of a link embedded in the advertisement (e.g., pay perclick). The seller network and/or the supplier affiliates may charge theadvertiser for the advertisement based on a telephone connection (orother communication leads, such as an instant messaging connection, avideo conferencing connection, an email lead, etc.) that is establishedas a result of the advertisement (e.g., pay per call). The demandaffiliates may charge for the advertisements based on the type of thechannels used to deliver the advertisements. For example, a text/webchannel may be less expensive than an audio channel, which may be lessexpensive than a video channel. The seller network and/or the supplieraffiliates may charge the advertiser for the leads regardless of themedia channel used to generate the leads. The seller network and/or thesupplier affiliates may charge the advertiser differently for differenttypes of leads (e.g., phone call, email, instant messaging, videoconferencing, etc.). In one embodiment, an advertisement may bepresented in a combination of different channels; and a lead generatedfrom an advertisement may include connections for a combination ofdifferent types of media (e.g., text, audio, video, etc.). Thus, therevenue sharing between different parties in the system may not beproportional a particular type of price that the advertiser is chargedfor the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the potential revenue that is expected to begenerated from presenting an advertisement is a function of a number ofparameters, such as the price the advertiser is being charged to, thecost for presenting the advertisement, the likelihood of generating anevent for which the price can be charged (e.g., a call through rate),and/or other related potential benefits that can be generated from thesuccess of the advertisement, such as the value of a first phone callgenerated from the advertisement, the likelihood of repeated phone callsfollowing the first phone call, the value of repeated phone calls, etc.In one embodiment, the potential revenue includes the advertisementrevenue and/or other types of revenues that are generated as a result ofa successful advertisement. For example, as a result of a phone callfrom the customer in response to the advertisement, the customer maypurchase services and/or products from the advertiser (seller); and thesystem may obtain a commission fee from the transaction performed whilethe customer and the advertiser (seller) are connected to each other viathe system. For example, the seller may provide information, advise,entertainment, etc., over the phone connection provided by the system;the customer is charged based on the service time of the seller; and theservice fee charged to the customer may be distributed among the seller,the connection system, a supply partner who bring the seller to thenetwork, and/or a demand partner who brings the customer to the network.Statistic data on the call through rate, the average amount of purchasesresulted from a phone call and/or the subsequent repeated calls, thelikelihood of repeated calls, etc. can be used to estimate the potentialrevenue. In general, the potential revenue can be estimated using moreor less parameters.

FIG. 40 illustrate a way to generate a revenue indicator according toone embodiment. In FIG. 40, the price information (3931) is used togenerate a revenue indicator (3947), based on one or more additionalconsiderations. The price information (3931) may include the price theadvertiser will pay for the advertisement, and/or the price for theproduct/service to be sold via the advertisement.

For example, an adviser may advertise to sell advice over telephoneconnections established via the advertisement (or over other types ofcommunication connections). The adviser may charge the customer based ona per-minute price for the communication time with the adviser. Theseller network, the demand affiliate and/or the supply affiliate maydeduct a portion of the advice fees as service charge. The likelihood ofa sell resulting from a telephone lead generated from the advertisementcan be used to estimate the portion of revenue that is a result of apurchase. Thus, the statistical data (3945), such as averagecommunication time, average sells, etc., can be used to estimate therevenue indicator (3947).

In one embodiment, weight factors (3943) can also be used in theestimation of the revenue indicator. For example, different channelsused for delivering advertisements, advertisers, categories ofadvertisements, and/or the type of communication connections required toconnect the customer to the advertiser, etc. may have different costs orbenefits. The weight factors can be used to approximately represent thecosts and/or benefits in a statistical sense. For example, one mediachannel is more successful in generating chargeable events than another;and weight factors based on the media channels can be used to representthe differences in conversion rates based on the media channels. Weightfactors can also be used to approximately represent the differences inconversion rates based on the advertisers, the categories ofadvertisements, etc.

In one embodiment, the conversion rates of the advertisements (3941) aretracked and used to determine the revenue indicator (3947). Theconversion rates can be measured/traced for individual advertisementsdelivered through different types of media channels. Alternatively, theconversion rates may be tracked for categories of advertisements. In oneembodiment, when the conversion rate for an individual advertisement isnot available, the conversion rate for similar advertisements (e.g.,similar based on geographic area, service/product type, etc.) can beused in estimating the revenue indicator (3947).

In one embodiment, the scheme (3933) for revenue splitting between oramong cooperative parties in the advertising system is used to determinethe share of revenue for a particular party (e.g., the operator of theseller network, a demand affiliate), or a type of parties (e.g., theseller affiliates). The revenue indicator (3947) can be determined for aparticular optimization target (3935), such as for the supplyaffiliates, or for a demand affiliate, or for the seller network, etc.

In one embodiment, cost factors (3937) can be explicitly considered indetermining the revenue indicator (3947). For example, the cost can bedetermined based on the media channels used to deliver theadvertisements. For example, different media channels may charge theseller network different fees for presenting advertisements. Differenttypes of communication channels provided to connect the customers andthe advertisers may have different communication costs. The costs can bededucted from the revenue to compute the revenue indicator (3947).

In one embodiment, a connection provider uses a connection serverconfigured on a packet switched network to provide telephone connectionsbetween callers (e.g., customers) and callees (e.g., advertisers), asillustrated in FIG. 41. In FIG. 41, the connection server (4107)receives and/or places telephone calls via the telecommunication carrier(4105) over the packet switched network (4109). The telecommunicationcarrier (4105) further routes the telephone communications towards thecaller (4101) and the callee (4103).

Since the telecommunication carrier (4105) can route a call from apacket switched network to a variety of destinations (e.g., atraditional analog telephone set, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, aWiFi phone, a Bluetooth phone, a softphone running on a computer, etc.),the connection sever (4107) can use one type of communication connectionwith the telephone carrier (4105) to facilitate the communicationconnections with variety of devices used by the customers (e.g., callersand callees). Thus, the implementation of the connection server (4107)can be simplified. In one embodiment, the connection server (4107) canalso place and/or receive direct VoIP calls to/from the caller (orcallee).

For example, to make a voice connection in response to a click-to-callrequest, the connection server can place separate VoIP calls, via thetelecommunication carrier (4105), to the caller (4101) (e.g., therequester of the click-to-call) and the callee (4103) (e.g., thedestination of the click-to-call request).

If the caller (4101) (or the callee 4103) is on a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), the telecommunication carrier (4105) bridgesthe packet switched the network and the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN). The telecommunication carrier (4105) routes the callfrom the packet switched network (4109) to the caller (4101) (or thecallee 4103) on the circuit switched network. Thus, the caller (4101)(or the callee 4103) can use a telephone set to receive the call via aPlain Old Telephone Service (POTS). The connection server (4107) joinsthe separate calls that are placed via the packet switched network(4109) to connect the callee (4103) and the caller (4101).

In one embodiment, call signaling and media content may use differentnetwork paths. While call signaling is arranged to go through the packetswitched network (4109) and the connection server (4107), the mediastream does not have to go through the connection server (4107). Forexample, when the calls are joined, the media content may be redirectedto flow over the communication carrier (4105) without going through thepacket switched network (4109) to the connection server (4107) forimproved performance and efficiency. The connection server (4107) canrelease the control over the media stream to allow the media stream toflow through the shortest path, without going through the connectionserver, while maintaining control to the connection for the call bystaying on the path for call signaling.

In another example, when the caller (4101) initiates a call over a PSTNto the connection server (4107), the telecommunication carrier (4105)converts the call for the packet switched network (4109) for theconnection server (4107).

In one embodiment, virtual softphones on the telecommunication carrier(4105) are assigned to the caller (4101) and the callee (4103) forinterfacing with the connection server (4107) over the packet switchednetwork (4109). The virtual softphones encapsulates the devices andnetworks used by the caller (4101) and callee (4103) to access theconnection server (4107); and the telecommunication carrier (4105)shields the connection server (4107) from the implementation details ofthe user devices and networks used by the caller (4101) and the callee(4103). The connection server (4107) calls (or receives calls from) andconnects the virtual softphones on the telecommunication carrier (4105)to connect the caller (4101) and the callee (4103).

In FIG. 41, the telephone connection between the telecommunicationcarrier (4105) and the connection server (4107) is facilitated via apacket switched network (4109). Thus, the connection server (4107) canoperate efficiently in a digital domain. The connection server (4107)interfaces with the telecommunication carrier (4105) using one type ofInternet Telephony systems (e.g., SIP-based Internet telephony).

Alternatively, a connection server may include some or all of thefunctionality of the telecommunication carrier (4105). For example, theconnection server may be configured to bridge a packet switched networkand a circuit switched network. The connection server may supportmultiple, different types of Internet Telephony systems.

In one embodiment, the connection server (4107) and thetelecommunication carrier (4105) are operated by different, separateentities. Alternatively, the connection server (4107) and thetelecommunication carrier (4105) may be operated by the same entity. Inanother embodiment, the telecommunication carrier (4105) includes a setof facilities operated by a number of separate entities.

In one embodiment, the caller (4101) and/or the callee (4103) may alsoplace/receive calls via a packet switched network. The telecommunicationcarrier (4105) may route the calls between the caller (4101) and thecallee (4103) without using a PSTN. In one embodiment, caller (4101)and/or the callee (4103) may place calls to or receive calls from theconnection server (4107) via Internet.

FIG. 42 shows a connection server according to one embodiment. In FIG.42, the connection server (4205) is configured to place and/or receiveVoIP calls using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). A session bordercontroller (4201) is used to interface with the packet switched network(4203) and control the types of network traffic related to VoIP callsthat might go into the connection server (4205).

In one embodiment, the session border controller (4201) is configured tocontrol the signaling and media stream during the setting up, conductingand tearing down of VoIP calls to or from the connection server (4205).In some embodiments, the session border controller (4201) may pick upthe call that comes to the session border controller (4201), places aseparate call from the session border controller (4201), and joins thereceived call and the placed call to control both the signaling andmedia stream. In some embodiments, the session border controller (4201)may perform signaling/encoding translation to allow the connectionserver (4205) to process the VoIP calls in one standard, while receivingVoIP calls in a variety of standards (e.g., SIP, H.323, etc.). In oneembodiment, the session border controller (4201) is configured toperform one or more firewall functionalities, such as denial of serviceprotection, call filtering, bandwidth management, etc.

In one embodiment, the session border controller (4201) is configured toperform media releasing operation. When the session border controller(4201) determines that the source and destination of a media stream ison the same side of the session border controller (4201) (e.g., both thesource and the destination of the media stream is outside the connectionserver 4205), the session border controller (4201) can release thehairpinning of the media stream and allow the media stream to flowwithout going through the session border controller (4201).

In FIG. 42, a set of SIP servers (e.g., 4211, 4213, . . . , 4219) arenetworked to the session border controller (4201) to receive messagesfor incoming calls and to initiate outgoing calls. The session bordercontroller (4201) is configured to evenly distribute the calls forprocessing by the SIP servers.

For example, when an incoming message for the initiation of a call isreceived (e.g., a SIP INVITE message from the telecommunication carrier4105), the session border controller (4201) may route it to a SIP server(e.g., 4211) for processing. The INVITE message includes the phonenumber dialed by the caller and the contact information about the caller(e.g., the phone number of the caller 4101 and/or the identity of thevirtual SIP phone at the telecommunication carrier 4105).

The SIP server may determine whether the phone number dialed by thecaller (4103) is sufficient to determine the phone number of the callee(e.g., 4103). If the phone number of the callee (e.g., 4103) can bedetermined from the phone number dialed by the caller (4103) (e.g., viadecoding the phone number dialed by the callee, or looking up the phonenumber of the callee from a table using the phone number dialed by thecaller as a key), the SIP server can place a separate SIP call to thecallee via the packet switched network (4203) and then connect thecaller and the callee. Alternatively, the SIP server can further routethe SIP INVITE message (e.g., to the telecommunication carrier (4105) todirect the call to the callee. For example, the SIP server may modifythe INVITE message by replacing the destination with the determinedphone number of the callee. Further, the SIP server can modify theINVITE message by removing the phone number of the caller (or replacingthe phone number of the caller with a phone number of the connectionserver). In one embodiment, the modified INVITE message identifies thevirtual softphone corresponding to the caller on the telecommunicationcarrier as the SIP phone initiated the call; thus, the virtual softphonecorresponding to the callee on the telecommunication carrier canestablish media connection with the virtual softphone corresponding tothe caller on the telecommunication carrier directly. Alternatively, themodified INVITE message may identifies a media server (4221) (or avirtual softphone on SIP server) as the initiator for a separate call.The SIP server then connects the calls for the media stream.

In one embodiment, the caller is first connected to a media server(e.g., 4221, 4223, or 4229). For example, the SIP server may forward theSIP INVITE message to one or more of the media servers for answering thecall. When a media server (e.g., 4221) answers the call, a prompt isplayed to the caller by the media server. The media server may includean Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, or be connected to an IVRsystem, to obtain input from the caller.

For example, the media server may prompt the caller to enter theextension assigned to the callee, such that the phone number of thecallee can be determined based on the phone number including theextension dialed by the caller. In some embodiments, the extensiondialed by the caller is sufficient to determine the phone number of thecallee. After the phone number of the callee is determined, the SIPserver can further connect the call to the callee.

For example, the media server can send a message to the SIP server. Themessage identifies the call and the extension obtained from the caller.The SIP server then determines the callee's phone number based at leaston the extension received from the media server and initiates a SIP callvia the packet switched network (4203) (e.g., by sending a SIP INVITEmessage to the telecommunication carrier 4105, which further bridges thecall to the callee 4103). Then, the SIP server disconnects the mediaserver from the call and reconnects the call to the callee.

For example, the SIP server can send a SIP BYE message to the mediaserver to disconnect the media server from the call (e.g., by sending a“BYE” message to the media server for the call) and send a re-INVITEmessage towards the caller to connect the caller and the callee.Alternatively, the media server may send a SIP BYE message to the SIPserver for the call; the BYE message may include the extension obtainedfrom the caller; in response to the BYE message that contains theextension, the SIP server determines the phone number of the callee andfurther connects the caller to the callee.

In one embodiment, the SIP server can direct the caller and the calleeto connect to each other for the media stream without having the mediastream going through the session border controller (4201) into theconnection server (4205). For example, the media stream can go throughthe telecommunication carrier (4105) in FIG. 41 without going to theconnection server (4107) after the SIP server connects the caller andthe callee.

However, the SIP server stays on the signaling path to monitor theprogress and termination of the call. The SIP server can also break theconnection between the caller and the callee, or force the media streamto come through the connection serve (4205). For example, the SIP servermay selectively conference a media server into the call to monitorand/or record the communication of the call between the caller and thecallee. For example, the SIP server may reconnect the caller and thecallee to separate media servers for interaction with an IVR system or ahuman operator to confirm a deal or transaction.

Similarly, the SIP server may initiate a callback to a caller via a SIPcall over the packet switched network (4203) for a connection to thecaller. The SIP call may be bridged onto a circuit switched network(e.g., by a telecommunication carrier 4105). The SIP server can thenreconnect the call to a media server for sending a prompt to the callerbefore reconnect the call to the callee. Alternatively, the callback canbe initiated from a media server; and the call signaling (e.g., theINVITE message from the media server) goes through the SIP server forcall control. Alternatively, the SIP server sends out the INVITE messageon behalf of the media server.

In one embodiment, the SIP servers (4211, 4213, . . . , 4219) and mediaservers (4221, 4223, . . . , 4229) are implemented on separate computersconnected via a local area network (and/or intranet or Internet).Alternatively, at least the some of the servers can be implemented on asame computer. In one embodiment, the SIP servers and the media serversare also integrated with the session border controller (4201) on a samedata process system having multiple processors coupled with a data bus.In one embodiment, the SIP servers are coupled to the media servers viaa network; and a SIP server may use any of the available media serverfor interaction with the caller (or callee). Alternatively, a SIP servermay be configured to use one or more of media servers that are notshared by other SIP server. For example, a SIP server may be implementedon a same data processing system with one or more media servers whichare reserved for the SIP server.

In one embodiment, the connection server (4205) may further include adatabase server (4205) to storing records related to the calls, datamapping between the communication references assigned to the callees andthe actual phone numbers of the callees, etc. In one embodiment, contactmapping are cached in the local memory (e.g., RAM) of the servers forimproved performance; and the cached mapping is updated when thedatabase is updated.

FIG. 43 illustrates a system to add advertisements with communicationreferences to content hosted on a server for connecting a customer toadvertisers relevant to the content according to one embodiment.

In FIG. 43, the content (4317) is hosted on a content server (4303). Thecontent (4317) is to be presented to a customer (4313) by a clientsystem (4315). In one embodiment, the content (4317) is presentedtogether with advertisement (4321) and the communication reference(4319), which can be used to request the connection provider (4309) toprovide a communication connection between the customer (4313) and theadvertiser (4311). For example, the content (4317) may be a blog, a website of a business, a profile page of a member of an online socialnetwork, an email message, an electronic book or magazine, a newsarticle, etc.

In FIG. 43, the communication reference (4319) is associated, in theadvertisement server (4301), with the contact (4305) of the advertiser(4311) and the provider of the content (4317). In one embodiment, a setof communication references is maintained by the advertisement server(4301); and the communication reference (4319) is selected from the setof communication references to represent the combination of theadvertisement and the provider of the content (4317). In general, theprovider of the content (4317) may or may not be the same as theoperator of the content server (4303). In one embodiment, the providerof the content (4317) is a publisher or creator of the content (4317).In another embodiment, the communication reference (4319) includes anencoded or encrypted version of the contact (4305) of the advertiser(4311), which can be decrypted or decoded without using a database.

In one embodiment, the communication reference (4319) is a referencethat can be used to establish a communication connection between theconnection provider (4309) and the customer (4313), such as a 1-800 tollfree number of the connection provider which is temporarily associatedwith the combination of the advertisement (4321) and the provider of thecontent (4317). The connection provider (4309) determined the contact(4305) and the provider of the content (4317) based on the communicationreferences (4319) used to reach the connection provider (4309). Theconnection provider (4309) uses the contact (4305) to connect thecustomer (4313) to the advertiser (4311). Per the establishing of theconnection between the advertiser (4311) and the customer (4313) via theadvertisement, the advertiser (4311) is charged an advertisement fee andthe provider of the content (4317) can be compensated. For example, theprovider of the content (4317) can be credited according to a percentageof the advertisement fee. Alternatively or in combination, the contentprovider may be compensated based on the number of presentations ofadvertisements that are presented via the presentation of the content.

In one embodiment, the content (4317) is provided with a link or codepointing to the advertisement server (4301). When the content (4317) ispresented on the client system (4315), the link causes the advertisementserver (4301) to request the advertisement server (4301) to provide oneor more advertisements, or to formulate a search to retrieve one or moreadvertisements from the advertisement server (4301), based on relevancyto the content (4317). The advertisement server (4301) then provides theclient system (4315) with the advertisement (4321) and the communicationreference (4319) which can be used to request the connection provider(4309) to establish a connection for real time communications betweenthe advertiser (4311) and the customer (4313).

In one embodiment, the advertisement (4321) is identified after thecontent (4317) is being requested by the client system (4315) or afterthe content (4317) is loaded into the client system (4315).

In another embodiment, the client system (4315) is configured toautomatically request the advertisement (4321) based on the content(4317). For example, the client system (4315) can be configured toformulate a search based on the content (4317) and submit the search tothe advertisement server (4301) for the communication reference (4319).For example, a software module implemented as a toolbar of a web browsercan be used to search the advertisement server (4301) for a relevantadvertisement (4319).

In a further embodiment, the content server (4303) is configured toformulate a search for advertisements in response to a request from theclient system (4315) for the content (4317). The advertisement (4321)and the communication reference (4319) can be provided together with thecontent (4317) by the content server (4303).

FIG. 44 illustrates an example of a document with added communicationreferences for connecting a customer to people relevant to the contentof the document according to one embodiment.

In FIG. 44, a document (4417) is presented in a browser (4401). Thedocument may or may not include references to a number of peoples towhom a user of the browser (4401) may want to talk, after viewing thedocument (4417). For example, the document (4417) may be a blog of anexpert, a profile page of a member of an online social network, a newsarticle, an email message accessed through a web server, an electronicbook or magazine.

In FIG. 44, a banner (4433) is used to present one or more pay-per-calladvertisements which are selected according to the content of thedocument (4417). The contact information provided in the advertisement,such as a phone number (4435) and/or the call button (4437), isassociated with the advertiser and the provider of the document (e.g.,the publisher or the author of the document).

In one embodiment, the publisher or the author of the document isprovided with a link or code that is to be embedded in the document. Inthe process of retrieving and/or rendering the document for display, theadvertisements are dynamically identified based on the content of thedocument for inclusion in the document.

In one embodiment, the link or code includes a reference to anadvertisement server (e.g., 4301 in FIG. 43) for a component of thedocument. When the document is rendered in a browser, the browser sendsa request to the advertisement server, which dynamically determines theadvertisements based on the content of the document. In one embodiment,the link or code identifies the document and/or the content provider. Inanother embodiment, the document and/or the content provider aredetermined based on a referring URL of the request that is generated bythe browser for the component.

In one embodiment, the code includes a script for an applet which runsin the browser to formula a search based on the content of the documentand to insert the retrieved advertisements into the document.

In one embodiment, the code includes a tag that provides information tothe tool bar (4403) for the generation of the content in the banners(4421, 4431 and 4433).

In FIG. 44, the browser includes a tool bar (4403) which can be used tolocate the telephonic communication references of peoples relevant tothe document (4417). Examples of people relevant to the document (4417)include persons or entities named in the document, persons or entitieshaving similar interest in the document, persons or entities providingservices/advices in areas similar to the document, etc.

In one embodiment, the toolbar (4403) provides the address of thedocument to an advertisement server (e.g., 4301 in FIG. 43) to requestfor a list of communication references for the relevant peoples. Inanother embodiment, the toolbar (4403) determines a set of keywordsbased on the content of the document to format a search, which issubmitted to the advertisement server (e.g., 4301 in FIG. 43) for a listof communication references of relevant peoples. Alternatively, thedocument (4417) and the communication references are provided by acontent server (e.g., 4303 in FIG. 43); and the browser (4401) isconfigured to render the communication references in the toolbar (4403).

In FIG. 44, the toolbar (4403) includes a list of identifiers of therelevant people, which can be selectively displayed in the text field(4405) via the selection tool (4407). In one embodiment, at least one ofthe relevant people is not explicitly referenced in the document (4417)but identified based on relevance to the content of the document (4417).

A button (4409) can be used to initiate a request for a connection tothe person/entity selected and displayed in the text field (4405). Inone embodiment, the button (4409) indicates a real time availability ofthe person/entity for taking a call for real time communications withthe user of the browser (4401). For example, when the person/entity isavailable to take the call (e.g., according to a pre-defined schedule ofthe person/entity, or according to real time presence informationobtained via a communication network), the button (4409) displays a“call now” status; if the person/entity is available to take the call,the button (4409) displays a “schedule now” status. In one embodiment,when the person/entity is not available to communicate in person but hasa pre-recorded message, the button (4409) displays a “listen now”status.

In one embodiment, after the button (4409) is selected, a request forcallback to a phone number specified by the user of the browser (4401)is transmitted to the connection provider (4309). A call graph may bedisplayed to guide the user through the connection process. For example,a call graph can be displayed to collect the callback number of the userof the browser (4401), if the callback number is not pre-configured(e.g., previously configured for the toolbar 4403).

In another embodiment, after the button (4409) is selected, a VoIP-basedtelephone call (e.g., a SIP call) is initiated from the client computerrunning the browser (4401); and the VoIP-based telephone call is placedto a connection provider (e.g., 4309) based on a communication reference(4319) assigned to the advertiser (4311).

In another embodiment, after the button (4409) is selected, an instantmessaging session is established based on a communication referenceassigned to the person/entity selected and displayed in the text field(4405). The instant messaging session may support text chat, voice chat,video chat, common whiteboarding, application sharing, and/or others.

In FIG. 44, the toolbar (4403) also displays a telephone number (4411)associated with the selected and displayed person/entity (4405). In oneembodiment, when the telephone number (4411) is dialed, the call isconnected to a connection provider (e.g., 4309 in FIG. 43); theconnection provider determines the contact (e.g., 4305 in FIG. 43) ofthe person/entity (4405) based on the dialed number and further connectsthe call to the person/entity (4405). Alternatively, the telephonenumber (4411) may be assigned to the person/entity (4405) by a telephonecarrier; and when the telephone number (4411) is dialed, the call isconnected to the person/entity (4405) by the telephone carrier.

In FIG. 44, the toolbar (4403) also displays the price (4413); and theuser of the browser (4401) will be charged for the price (4413) for realtime communicates with the person/entity (4405). For example, the usermay purchase a package of 20 minutes, at a price of $25 for real timecommunications with the person/entity (4405); and the purchased bulkminutes (e.g., 20 minutes) can be used in one or more separate callswithin a pre-determined time period.

In FIG. 44, the toolbar (4403) includes a selection button (4415) forfurther display of other information relevant to the selectedperson/entity (4405). For example, an advertisement message by theperson/entity (4405) can be displayed using the selection button (4415);a link to a web page that contains an embedded call button assigned tothe person/entity (4405) can be displayed.

In FIG. 44, a banner (4421) is displayed to show the contact informationof the author of the document (4417). The contact information mayinclude a telephone number and/or a call button assigned to the author.

In one embodiment, the author of the document (4417) is provided with alink or code pointing to a server of the connection provider or contactserver. The link or code is to be embedded by the author of the documentin the web page, such that when the web page is rendered, the banner(4421) is obtained from the server for display.

In another embodiment, a content management tool is used to generate theweb page based on content and author information maintained by thecontent server; and the content management tool is configured toautomatically determine whether the author of the document (4417) has atelephone number and/or a call button and to generate the link to thebanner (4421) if the contact information of the author is available. Inone embodiment, the author of the document (4417) can specify whether ornot the content management tool can create the banner link for thedocument (4417).

In FIG. 44, the banner (4421) is for a pre-identified person/entity(e.g., the author of the document 4417). Another banner (4431) is usedto present the communication references for a set of persons/entitiesthat are dynamically identified based on the content of the web pageand/or the preferences of the user of the browser (4401); and suchpersons/entities may or may not be explicitly mentioned in the document(4417).

In one embodiment, a link to the contact server (or connection provider)is embedded in the web page by the author of the web page or by acontent management tool. When the web page is rendered, the contactserver dynamically determines a set of persons/entities who are relevantto the web page and to who the user of the browser (4401) may want totalk. The list of persons/entities can be sorted according to a degreeof relevance to the web page, the likelihood of the user talking tothem, and/or the prices of the persons/entities.

In one embodiment, a control element (4423) can be used to scroll thelist to display a selected portion of the list in a banner of a limitedsize. In the list, a link (e.g., 4425) can be used to initiate a requestfor a callback, a VoIP-based call, an IM session, or a request for a webpage that presents further information about the correspondingperson/entity. For example, the link (4425) may point to a blog pagewhich has an embedded call button of the relevant person. Alternatively,the link (4425) may represent the call button of the relevant person.

In another embodiment, iconic representations of call buttons of the setof relevant persons/entities are also presented in the list.

In one embodiment, the list can be selected to present an expanded,detailed list of the relevant persons/entities.

In some embodiments, the document may be presented with some of thefeatures but not all. For example, in one embodiment, the tool bar(4403) is optional; in another embodiment, the banners (4421 and 4431)may not be presented; in a further embodiment, the document includes thebanner (4433) but not the tool bar (4403) and the other banners (4421and 4431). In one embodiment, the banners (4421, 4431 and 4433) areimplemented using one link or code, which selectively renders thefeatures based on the content of the document.

FIG. 45 illustrates a method to add communication references via acontent management system to allow a user to request a connection topeople relevant to the content for real time communications according toone embodiment.

In FIG. 45, the content server (4505) generates a web page for theclient system (4515) in response to a request from the client system(4515). The content server (4505) retrieves the requested content fromthe content database (4501) and retrieves contact references from thecontact server (4503) based on the retrieved content.

In one embodiment, the content server (4505) determines thepersons/entities that are explicitly referenced in the retrieved contentand adds the contact information for the explicitly referencedpersons/entities to the content. For example, the content server mayidentify the explicitly referenced persons/entities based on the authorinformation, the names and/or titles mentioned in the content, etc. Inone embodiment, the content server (4505) modifies the presentation ofthe content to show the communication references of the explicitlyreferenced persons/entities at locations close to where the referencesare made. For example, call buttons and/or telephone numbers can beappended to the name of the author; the names of the entities can behyperlinked for access to their call buttons and/or telephone numbers;etc.

In one embodiment, to obtain the list of explicitly referencedpersons/entities, the content server (4505) determines a set of searchterms that are identifiers of persons/entities, such as names, useridentifiers, email addresses, telephone numbers, etc.

Alternatively or in combination, the content server (4505) determinesthe relevant advertisers/persons/entities based on matching the topic ofthe content to the topics associated with theadvertisers/persons/entities. For examples, the topic of the content canbe matched to the topics of the advertisements of persons/entities toidentify the relevant persons/entities. For example, the topic of thecontent can be matched to the topics of the web pages which haveembedded call buttons for the corresponding persons/entities.

In one embodiment, to obtain the list of relevantadvertisers/persons/entities, the content server (4505) determines a setof search terms that are representative of the topic of the content andthat are generally not unique to advertisers/persons/entities.Alternatively or in combination, explicitly referenced persons/entitiescan also be used as a search term to determine related persons based ona database of social network.

Thus, a search of relevant advertisers/persons/entities related to thecontent (4517) can be performed automatically for the client system(4515) based on the requested content. The contact reference (4519) andthe content (4517) are provided together to the client system (4515) forpresentation.

FIG. 46 illustrates another method to add communication references toallow a user to request a connection to people relevant to the contentfor real time communications according to one embodiment.

In FIG. 46, the content (4617) is provided to the client system (4615)by the content server (4605) together with a reference (4619) to thecontact server (4603). When the client system (4615) renders the content(4617) and the reference (4619) for display, the client system (4615)sends a request to the contact server with a reference to the content.

For example, the reference (4619) can be implemented as a link or codepointing to the contact server. When a request is sent to the contactserver (4603) according to the link, the referring URL that representsan address for the content (4617) is also sent to the contact server(4603). Using the referring URL, the contact server (4603) can retrievethe content from the content server (4605) to identify contacts ofentities relevant to the content (4617) that is to be presented on theclient system (4615), if the content (4617) is not already indexed orcached on the contact server. The entities may include advertisers ofadvertisements relevant to the content (4617).

In another embodiment, the content (4617) is pre-analyzed to generate aset of keywords that are representative of the content (4617). The setof keywords can be embedded in the reference (4619) and provided to thecontact server (4603) with the request for relevant advertisements andcontact information of relevant entities.

After the contacts of the relevant identities are identified based onthe content retrieved by the contact server (4603) from the contentserver (4605), references to the relevant contacts are provided by thecontact server (4603) to the client system (4615) for display with thecontent (4617). In one embodiment, the references to the relevantcontacts (e.g., call buttons or telephone numbers) are presentedseparately from the content (4617). In one embodiment, relevantadvertisements with call buttons and/or references for requesting aconnection for real time communications in text, voice and/or video arealso provided. The assigned communication references are used both torepresent the advertisers and to track the contribution of the contentproviders in reaching the advertisers.

In one embodiment, the reference to the contact server provided by thecontent server (4605) may also include parameters that can be used tolimit the scope of the search to be performed by the contact server(4603). For example, it may be desirable to exclude certain entities,such as the competitors of the content server (4605), from being listedwith the content (4617).

In FIG. 46, the contact server (4603) is configured to obtain thecontent from the content server for the search of relevant entities.Alternatively, the search may be formulated at the client system (4615)(e.g., via a module of a browser such as a toolbar module, or a scriptembedded in or provided with the content, etc.)

FIG. 47 illustrates a further method to add communication references toallow a user to request a connection to people relevant to the contentfor real time communications according to one embodiment.

In FIG. 47, after the client system (4715) obtains the content (4717),the content (4717) is analyzed by the client system (4717) to determinethe search terms for obtaining contacts of relevant entities, which mayinclude relevant advertisers. For example, the search terms can bedetermined by the browser for the presentation of the content, or aplug-in module (e.g., a toolbar module) for the browser, or a scriptmodule sent with the content (4717) to the client system (4715), or ascript module received according to a link sent to the client system(4715) with the content (4717), etc.

The client system (4715) sends a request to the contact server (4703)with the result of the content analysis. For example, the search termscan be sent to the contact server (4703) in a request for a list ofrelevant persons, their contact information, and/or their advertisementmessages. In one embodiment, the information provided by the contactserver includes information published by the entities (e.g., in blogs orother web sites on the Internet) and/or information to be published onbehalf of the entities (e.g., advertisements of the entities).

The client system (4715) then presents the references to the relevantcontacts together with the content. For example, a list of call buttons,telephone numbers, advertisements, and/or links to web pages thatcontain the corresponding call buttons can be presented in an areaseparate from the content (4717) in a web page.

FIG. 48 illustrates a method to provide advertisements to facilitatereal time communications between people according to one embodiment. InFIG. 48, after an advertisement is identified (4801) based at least inpart on the relevancy of the advertisement to the content of a documentprovided by a content provider to a user, a communication reference thatis to be used to request a connection provider to establish a connectionfor real time communications between the user and an advertiser of theadvertisement is associated (4803) with both the advertisement and thecontent provider. The content of the document may be a blog, a profilepage of a member of an online social network, an email message accessedvia a web site, a news article, an electronic book, or an electronicmagazine

In one embodiment, the communication reference includes a telephonenumber of the connection provider without an extension, a telephonenumber of the connection provider with an extension, a sessioninitiation protocol (SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI), or a Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) user identifier. In one embodiment, thecommunication reference comprises a link which when selected by the usercauses a telephonic application to initiate a telephone call.

In FIG. 48, the advertisement and the communication reference are added(4805) to the document via the content provider. For example, thecontent provider may embed a code in the content to cause a browser torequest for an advertisement when the document is rendered in thebrowser. Alternatively, the advertisement and the communicationreference may be statically embedded in the document by the contentprovider prior to the user requesting the document, or be dynamicallyembedded in the document in response to the user requesting thedocument.

In FIG. 48, in response to a request received from the user via thecommunication reference, contact information of the advertiser isdetermined (4807) based on the communication reference used to receivethe request; and using the contact information determined from thecommunication reference the connection is established (4809) for realtime communications between the user and the advertiser. In oneembodiment, the connection between the user and the advertiser includesa connection for real time communications between the user and theadvertiser in text, voice or video.

In FIG. 48, the content provider is identified (4813) based on thecommunication reference used to receive the request and compensated(4815) per the establishing of the connection between the user and theadvertiser.

In one embodiment, the advertiser is charged (4815) an advertisement feeper the establishing of the connection between the user and theadvertiser.

In one embodiment, the connection between the user and the advertiserincludes a telephonic connection. The connection provider receiving atelephone call from the user according to the communication reference toreceive the request for the connection; and the connection providerplaces a separate telephone call to the advertiser and bridges thetelephone call received from the user and the separate telephone callplaced to the advertiser to establish the connection between theadvertiser and the user.

In one embodiment, the connection provider establishes a first Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection with a telecommunicationcarrier which bridges the first VoIP connection to a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN) to the user, establishes a second Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) connection with a telecommunication carrierwhich bridges the second VoIP connection to a public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) to the advertiser, and connecting the first and secondVoIP connections. In one embodiment, a media connection that does not gothrough the connection provider is established to connect the user andthe advertiser.

In one embodiment, the connection provider may optionally providelanguage translation and/or format conversion to bridge the connections.For example, the connection provider may translate a message from afirst spoken language to a second spoken language for transferring themessage from the first connection to the second connection. For example,the connection provider may convert a message between text and voice tobridge the connections.

In one embodiment, to add the advertisement and the communicationreference to the document, the content provider is provided with a codeto be embedded in the document, which when loaded into a browsergenerates a request from the browser in reference to the document. Inresponse to the request from browser, the advertisement and thecommunication reference are provided to the browser for display to theuser. In one embodiment, the code includes a script which adds theadvertisement and the communication reference to the document that isbeing rendered by the browser. In one embodiment, the advertisement isidentified in response to the request from the browser.

In one embodiment, the identifying of the advertisement includes:receiving the document from the content provider; determining one ormore keywords from the document; searching an advertisement databasebased on the one or more keywords; sorting a plurality of candidatesresulted from the searching of the advertisement database; and based ona result of the sorting of the plurality of candidates, selecting one ormore advertisements from the candidates for inclusion in the document.

In one embodiment, the searching of the advertisement database is basedat least in part on the availability of advertisers to communicate withthe user in real time according to schedules of the advertisers. Forexample, the advertisers who are not available for real timecommunications may be excluded.

In one embodiment, the searching of the advertisement database filtersout advertisers of competitors of the content provider.

In one embodiment, the candidates are sorted according to bid prices ofadvertisers of the candidates; and the bid prices are to be charged inresponse to the connection provider connecting the user to advertisersof the candidates for real time voice communications.

In one embodiment, the candidates are sorted according to earningpotentials of presenting the respective candidates. The earningpotentials may include advertisement fees charged per establishing realtime communication connections from a customer to the advertisers of thecandidates and commission fees charged based on customer purchases viathe real time communication connections between the customer and theadvertisers of the candidates. In one embodiment, the likelihood ofcommission fees generated from returning customers is also considered inestimate the earning potentials.

In general, the routines executed to implement the processes may beimplemented as part of an operating system or a specific application,component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions referredto as “computer programs.” The computer programs typically comprise oneor more instructions set at various times in various memory and storagedevices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by one or moreprocessors in a computer, cause the computer to perform operationsnecessary to execute elements involving the various aspects. Moreover,while the disclosure has been provided in the context of fullyfunctioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that the various embodiments are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that thedisclosure applies equally regardless of the particular type of machineor computer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited torecordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices,floppy and other removable disks, hard disk drives, optical disks (e.g.,Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs),etc.), among others, and transmission type media such as digital andanalog communication links.

Although the disclosure has been provided with reference to specificexemplary embodiments, it will be evident that the various modificationand changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit as set forth in the claims. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative senserather than in a restrictive sense.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method, comprising: processing a first transmissionreceived via a network by a server system, the first transmissioncorresponding to a request relating to provisioning content to a clientsystem; based at least in part on the first transmission, selecting, bythe server system, a communication reference from a pool ofcommunication references that are recycled based on a predetermined setof allocation rules; transmitting, by the server system, thecommunication reference via the network, wherein the communicationreference is useable to request a connection for real timecommunications between a user of the client system and an advertiser;processing, by the server system, a connection request received from theclient system utilizing the communication reference; and in response tothe connection request from the client system using the communicationreference, facilitating, by the server system, the connection for realtime communications between the user and the advertiser.
 3. The methodof claim 2, further comprising: analyzing, by the server system, thecontent to determine a relevancy of the advertiser to the content;wherein the server system selects the communication reference based atleast in part on the determined relevancy of the advertiser to thecontent.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: processing, bythe server system, a result of a content analysis, the result of thecontent analysis received from a source remote from the server system;and determining, by the server system, a relevancy of the advertiser tothe result of the content analysis; wherein the server system selectsthe communication reference based at least in part on the determinedrelevancy of the advertiser to the result of the content analysis. 5.The method of claim 2, wherein the request relating to provisioning thecontent to the client system is received from the client system andcomprises a reference to the content, and the method further comprises:based at least in part on the reference, retrieving, by the serversystem, the content from a content server remote from the server system;and analyzing, by the server system, the content to determine arelevancy of the advertiser to the content; wherein the server systemselects the communication reference based at least in part on thedetermined relevancy of the advertiser to the content.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising: transmitting, by the server system, thecontent with the communication reference embedded in the content via thenetwork to the client system.
 7. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising: based at least in part on the content, searching, by theserver system, an advertisement database to identify an advertisementbased at least in part on relevancy of the advertisement to the contentof the document, wherein the advertiser is associated with theadvertisement; storing in the advertisement database a set of parametersin association with the advertisement, the set of parameters specifyingthe communication reference allocated to the advertisement andassociated with a content provider for a first predefined period oftime; and p1 in response to the connection request from the clientsystem using the communication reference, causing, by the server system,the set of parameters stored in the advertisement database to bemodified to extend the association of the communication reference withthe advertisement for a period of time and determining contactinformation of the advertiser based on the communication reference usedto transmit the connection request, wherein the connection for real timecommunications between the user and the advertiser is established usingthe contact information determined from the communication reference. 8.The method of claim 2, wherein: the connection for real timecommunications between the user and the advertiser includes a connectionfor real time communications between the user and the advertiser in atleast one of text, voice, and/or video; the content of corresponds atleast in part to one or more of a blog, webpage, a profile page of amember of an online social network, an email message accessed via a website, a news article, an electronic book, and/or an electronic magazine;and the communication reference comprises one of a telephone number of aconnection provider without an extension, a telephone number of theconnection provider with an extension, a session initiation protocoluniform resource identifier, or a voice over Internet protocol useridentifier.
 9. One or more non-transitory, processor-readable mediastoring instructions that,when executed by a server system, cause theserver system to: process a first transmission received via a network bythe server system, the first transmission corresponding to a requestrelating to provisioning content to a client system; based at least inpart on the first transmission, select a communication reference from apool of communication references that are recycled based on apredetermined set of allocation rules; transmit the communicationreference via the network, wherein the communication reference isuseable to request a connection for real time communications between auser of the client system and an advertiser; process a connectionrequest received from the client system utilizing the communicationreference; and in response to the connection request from the clientsystem using the communication reference, facilitate the connection forreal time communications between the user and the advertiser.
 10. Theone or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 9, whereinthe instructions further cause the server system to: analyze the contentto determine a relevancy of the advertiser to the content; wherein theserver system selects the communication reference based at least in parton the determined relevancy of the advertiser to the content.
 11. Theone or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 9, whereinthe instructions further cause the server system to: process a result ofa content analysis, the result of the content analysis received from asource remote from the server system; and determine a relevancy of theadvertiser to the result of the content analysis; wherein the serversystem selects the communication reference based at least in part on thedetermined relevancy of the advertiser to the result of the contentanalysis.
 12. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable mediaof claim 9, wherein the request relating to provisioning the content tothe client system is received from the client system and comprises areference to the content, and the instructions further cause the serversystem to: based at least in part on the reference, retrieve the contentfrom a content server remote from the server system; and analyze thecontent to determine a relevancy of the advertiser to the content;wherein the server system selects the communication reference based atleast in part on the determined relevancy of the advertiser to thecontent.
 13. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media ofclaim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the server system to:transmit the content with the communication reference embedded in thecontent via the network to the client system.
 14. The one or morenon-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 9, wherein theinstructions further cause the server system to: based at least in parton the content, search an advertisement database to identify anadvertisement based at least in part on relevancy of the advertisementto the content of the document, wherein the advertiser is associatedwith the advertisement; store in the advertisement database a set ofparameters in association with the advertisement, the set of parametersspecifying the communication reference allocated to the advertisementand associated with a content provider for a first predefined period oftime; and in response to the connection request from the client systemusing the communication reference, cause the set of parameters stored inthe advertisement database to be modified to extend the association ofthe communication reference with the advertisement for a period of timeand determining contact information of the advertiser based on thecommunication reference used to transmit the connection request, whereinthe connection for real time communications between the user and theadvertiser is established using the contact information determined fromthe communication reference.
 15. The one or more non-transitory,processor-readable media of claim 9, wherein: the connection for realtime communications between the user and the advertiser includes aconnection for real time communications between the user and theadvertiser in at least one of text, voice, and/or video; the content ofcorresponds at least in part to one or more of a blog, webpage, aprofile page of a member of an online social network, an email messageaccessed via a web site, a news article, an electronic book, and/or anelectronic magazine; and the communication reference comprises one of atelephone number of a connection provider without an extension, atelephone number of the connection provider with an extension, a sessioninitiation protocol uniform resource identifier, or a voice overInternet protocol user identifier.
 16. A system comprising: a serversystem comprising one or more servers communicatively coupled to a datastore, the server system further comprising memory coupled to the one ormore servers and storing instructions that, when executed by the one ormore servers, cause the server system to: process a first transmissionreceived via a network by the server system, the first transmissioncorresponding to a request relating to provisioning content to a clientsystem; based at least in part on the first transmission, select acommunication reference from a pool of communication references that arerecycled based on a predetermined set of allocation rules; transmit thecommunication reference via the network, wherein the communicationreference is useable to request a connection for real timecommunications between a user of the client system and an advertiser;process a connection request received from the client system utilizingthe communication reference; and in response to the connection requestfrom the client system using the communication reference, facilitate theconnection for real time communications between the user and theadvertiser.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions furthercause the server system to: analyze the content to determine a relevancyof the advertiser to the content; wherein the server system selects thecommunication reference based at least in part on the determinedrelevancy of the advertiser to the content.
 18. The system of claim 16,wherein the instructions further cause the server system to: process aresult of a content analysis, the result of the content analysisreceived from a source remote from the server system; and determine arelevancy of the advertiser to the result of the content analysis;wherein the server system selects the communication reference based atleast in part on the determined relevancy of the advertiser to theresult of the content analysis.
 19. The system of claim 16, wherein therequest relating to provisioning the content to the client system isreceived from the client system and comprises a reference to thecontent, and the instructions further cause the server system to: basedat least in part on the reference, retrieve the content from a contentserver remote from the server system; and analyze the content todetermine a relevancy of the advertiser to the content; wherein theserver system selects the communication reference based at least in parton the determined relevancy of the advertiser to the content.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein the instructions further cause the serversystem to: transmit the content with the communication referenceembedded in the content via the network to the client system.
 21. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the serversystem to: based at least in part on the content, search anadvertisement database to identify an advertisement based at least inpart on relevancy of the advertisement to the content of the document,wherein the advertiser is associated with the advertisement; store inthe advertisement database a set of parameters in association with theadvertisement, the set of parameters specifying the communicationreference allocated to the advertisement and associated with a contentprovider for a first predefined period of time; and in response to theconnection request from the client system using the communicationreference, cause the set of parameters stored in the advertisementdatabase to be modified to extend the association of the communicationreference with the advertisement for a period of time and determiningcontact information of the advertiser based on the communicationreference used to transmit the connection request, wherein theconnection for real time communications between the user and theadvertiser is established using the contact information determined fromthe communication reference.